Mister Niceguy
by Hiroshi Paradox
Summary: A serious injury leaves Inuyasha's personality drastically changed for the better. But the change soon leads to unexpected reactions from Inuyasha's companions, reactions that Naraku is all too fond of manipulating and exploiting for his own desires...
1. Chapter 1: Giant Spiky Youkai Turtle

Inuyasha: Mister Niceguy!

Hiya folks! This is my first fanfic ever! Okay, not really ever, I used to write crappy little fanfics when I was 8 or so...So I guess we can say this is my first serious fanfic? Maybe? Um...well, in any case, it's my first fanfic here, so, yeah.

**Disclaimer: **Guess I should put one of these, huh? I do not own Inuyasha, or any of the characters within. I probably don't even own the little things I make up, either. And I most CERTAINLY do not own this frilly pink tutu here...

**Chapter 1:**

Their ongoing quest to recover the shards of the Shikon Jewel had led Inuyasha and his friends to yet another village plagued by the wrath of a youkai, this time a demonic monster turtle. They had all balked at the description of the demon terrorizing the village; a TURTLE had hardly seemed deserving of all of fear that the villagers had exhibited. And so, despite Inuyasha's claims that dealing with such a pathetic foe was a waste of their time, the group had decided to help out the villagers and dispatch the demon, thanks in no small part to the stubborn arguing of Kagome, the girl from the future...at least, the future to everyone else around here while she traveled with her friends in the Sengoku Jidai, the Warring States Era – in other words, ancient Japan.

However, the turtle youkai was turning out to be much more of menace than any of them had thought. The turtle's shell was covered in deadly spikes. Spikes that the turtle could launch from his back. Spikes that exploded on contact. Explosions that released and dispersed a spread of smaller spikes that also exploded. And then there was the fact that the turtle was twenty feet tall. The group quickly saw that their skepticism at the threat the turtle posed was horribly misplaced.

It was the middle of the battle, and the turtle youkai was about to fire another wave of spikes at the group.

"Look out! He's firing the spikes again!" the worried Kagome shouted.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them. WIND SCAR!" Inuyasha let loose the special attack that only his sword, his birthright from his late father, could execute: an immense wave of wind energy that decimated everything in it's path. And in this instance, it's path was the wave of explosive spikes the turtle had deployed.

All of Inuyasha's companions realized what his rashness blinded him from seeing: destroying the spikes would only quicken the assault of the smaller spikes that were emitted by the larger ones.

The youkai exterminator, Sango, was the one to voice this observation, shouting, "Inuyasha, don't!" but it was too late. The impatient hanyou had already executed his special attack, and the force of the Wind Scar had detonated the spikes, and his eyes widened with realization and shock as he realized what he'd done. Looking up, he saw as the rain of small spikes fell, about to hit him, his friends, and everything in the area.

"DAMN IT!" Inuyasha cursed, obviously angry that the turtle's attack had such an effect, but secretly more angry that he had screwed up and put his friends, and especially Kagome, in danger.

Kagome let out a small cry, and Shippo screamed, while Sango, perched upon the back of her catlike youkai familiar, Kirara, looked on in fear, trying desperately to think up a way to help her friends.

But it was Miroku, the cursed monk, who kept his calm. "Don't worry, I've got it!" he shouted, and removed the beads from his right wrist.

The enchantment present in the string of beads held back the devastating power of his Wind Tunnel, the curse he bore, a small black hole located in the palm of his right hand that sucked in everything around him.

The small ballistic spikes were drawn from their path and sucked into the black hole, saving the group from their wrath.

Sango flew Kirara over next to Miroku, and complemented him on his quick thinking.

"Good job, Houshi-sama! You really saved our butts there!"

"Ah, Sango, what I wouldn't do to protect that lovely posterior of your--" Miroku's perverted reply was interrupted by the clash of her giant boomerang, Hiraikotsu, against the monks skull.

"This is hardly the time! We need to finish this battle up!" the enraged Sango replied.

"Oh, worry not, Lady Sango, I believe Inuyasha has things under control now." Miroku smoothly commented, pointing back towards the front line of the battle.

Inuyasha had refocused following the end of the spike threat, and charged for the turtle youkai itself.

"Enough! It's time to put an end to this! Gyaaaah!" Inuyasha's battle cry sounded as he jumped forward and swung the enormous Tetsusaiga, cleaving the the turtle in two, putting an end to the fight. He stood up from the crouched position his leap had left him in, and sheathed his sword. He turned around and heard...

"Inuyasha!"

Seeing that the danger was gone, Kagome ran towards Inuyasha, first to check to make sure he was okay, and then to give him a piece of her mind about how stupid his earlier attack had been.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" she asked.

"Feh. I'm fine." Inuyasha replied, his back towards the turtles corpse.

"Good, that means I won't be distracted from telling you how stupid it was for you to attack those spikes! You really need to--" Kagome began to lecture Inuyasha, and Miroku and Sango, having made their way back to them, listened Kagome argued with Inuyasha, who would angrily respond, all the while Shippo, sitting on Kagome's shoulder, would interject to emphasize Kagome's claim that Inuyasha had messed up.

Inuyasha was becoming angry. He was hurt by the chastisements. He'd known that he'd messed up, and having the others, particularly Kagome, point it out only made him feel worse. And the worse Inuyasha felt inside, the more angry he appeared on the outside to mask any emotion that could be seen as sadness.

The argument was heated, with the participants focusing on it completely and the spectators watching it intently. As such, none of the group had noticed the yellow mist emanating from the turtle's corpse. The rising mist wasn't the only thing stirring around the corpse; a spike on one of the halves the turtle's back was active, about to fire.

Looking away from the argument in exasperation, Miroku turned his head to notice the spike, which was aimed straight for the group.

"Look out!" he shouted, which caused Inuyasha to turn and see what had caused the monk to shout such a warning. Seeing the spike aimed towards his friends, Inuyasha hastily pushed Sango and Miroku away then quickly placed himself between the approaching spike and Kagome (who was now holding a frightened Shippo) using his body to shield her from the projectile.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked as she watched the spike pierce Inuyasha's flesh.

Inuyasha let out a series of pained grunts, first from the spike embedding itself in it's back, then from the initial explosion it made once it had hit, and finally from the subsequent explosions of the smaller spikes inside the wound, tearing apart his insides.

Once the explosions stopped, Inuyasha fell to his knees, clenching his teeth and shuddering a bit from the pain.

Kagome, eyes full of tears, looked to down, her gaze dropping along with Inuyasha's battered and bloodied form. She gasped at the sight.

Sango and Miroku had recovered from Inuyasha's rough push, and looked to see what had happened. They too gasped at the sight of a bloodied Inuyasha, as well as from surprise as they finally noticed the yellow mist that was surrounding Inuyasha.

Kagome knelt down to examine Inuyasha's wounds try to comfort him, when again she gasped in surprise. As she lowered herself to Inuyasha's eye level, she saw something in his downcast eyes that she almost never saw:

Tears.

Inuyasha was crying! Kagome almost never saw Inuyasha cry, and not once had injuries from battle been the cause. Kagome's own tears intensified as she worried about Inuyasha...how badly must he be hurt to allow himself to cry from the injuries? She moved forward to gently hug the half demon, but what little strength Inuyasha had left that was keeping his on his knees gave way, and he collapsed, falling face forward and passing out.

Yet again, Kagome and the others let out a gasp at the sight on Inuyasha's back. The gory and devastating wound on his back was absorbing the yellow mist, infecting the exposed flesh on Inuyasha's back and turning it a disgusting green shade.

Just as Inuyasha's strength had given out, so had Kagome's. But instead of collapsing and losing consciousness, she hunched over Inuyasha's battered form and began bawling.

A/N: REVIEWS! Yeah. Review if you want to. I'm not gonna like, beg for them or anything, but they'd be nice. I likes having my ego boosted. Or whatever. I'll try not to whine for them too much, because I haven't reviewed anything yet (having just joined and all) and stuff. And, yeah, the story is starting out with almost nothing to do with the overall idea, but hey, be patient. I'm apparently a little long-winded...


	2. Chapter 2: Sango takes charge!

Inuyasha: Mister Niceguy!

A/N: Whoa, sweet...3 reviews on the first chapter already. Merry Christmas, indeed.

I think I'm gonna respond to them individually, cause I feel like it. This doesn't mean I'll always do it, just when I feel like it.

bluecleo – you asked me to review a story of yours...but, I need to know where the story is to review it, ;; Thanks for the kind words!

Priestess kurumi inu's sister - ! I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying! Unfortunately, I can't guarantee that I'll always update so soon between chapters.

sprinkles73 – also thanks for the kind words!

And now...let's see if I can remember to put the disclaimer in this time...

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Inuyasha or anything. I don't own these pants I'm wearing right now either...which is most disturbing.

**Chapter 2:**

With Kagome losing her grip on the situation, Miroku and Sango knew that they had to get Inuyasha away from the poison mist and to Kaede's hut where he could get some medical aid.

"I'll try to suck out the mist with my Wind Tunnel!" Miroku stated as began loosening the rosary beads around his cursed hand.

"Wait! We don't know what kind of effect it'll have on you if you suck up the mist, Houshi-sama! Try to just move it away from Inuyasha without getting any into your Wind Tunnel!" Sango quickly shouted after hearing Miroku's plan.

Ignoring his opportunity to make light of the youkai exterminator's concern for him, Miroku merely nodded in compliance and began dashing off to a suitable distance from which to pull the poison mist.

"WIND TUNNEL!" he shouted as he unveiled the black hole. Following Sango's instructions, he used the pull of the Wind Tunnel to draw the mist away, then quickly replaced the rosary beads around his wrist to disengage it before the mist was drawn in, leaving it to disperse meters away from Inuyasha.

Meanwhile, Sango was taking care of things back where the rest of the group was. "Kirara! Transform! We need to get Inuyasha back to Kaede's place quickly!"

The two-tailed youkai quickly complied, changing back into her large and menacing form that she had held only moments ago during the battle.

Sango had watched Kirara, then satisfied with her familiar's transformation, she turned her gaze back towards Inuyasha and Kagome.

"Kagome-chan, help me get Inuyasha onto Kirara's back!" she told the crying miko.

Kagome had wanted to comply, but found that she was too upset to do so. 'Dammit, I need to stop crying! I need to pull myself together! I'm not doing Inuyasha any good by just sitting here helplessly and crying my guts out! But..he's so badly injured...I can't stand seeing him this way...' These thoughts flooded Kagome's mind as she struggled to regain her composure so she could help Inuyasha.

Whereas Kagome was having trouble getting her act together, Sango was already in control of her emotions, and knew that they didn't have time to wait for Kagome. Taking control of the situation even more, she gently pried Kagome from her position kneeling over Inuyasha. As she was setting Kagome back down, she noticed that Shippo had been standing next to Kagome the whole time, worried both over Inuyasha's condition and the anguished Kagome's. The demon exterminator shot a glance at the fox youkai wordlessly informing him that he needed to try to comfort Kagome while she took care of getting Inuyasha ready for travel. Upon noticing the look, Shippo jumped into Kagome's arms and did his best to calm her down.

With Kagome set aside, Sango turned back to Inuyasha. With even more care than she had exhibited in moving Kagome, she effortlessly scooped up the half demon and placed him on Kirara's back. By this time, Kagome had calmed down enough to get to her feet, and was walking towards Sango and Kirara. Tears were gushing from her eyes, but she was determined that she had to stay with Inuyasha.

Sango was just about to tell Kirara to go when she heard Kagome approaching. "Kagome-chan..."

Kagome held back her tears long enough to firmly state, "I'm going with him."

Sango's focused look softened a bit, and she nodded, a look of concern for Kagome on her face. She briefly hugged the girl, then picked her up and placed her on Kirara's back, behind Inuyasha.

Once situated, Kagome's lost her composure again, and resumed crying over Inuyasha's crumpled form.

Sango once again silently addressed Shippo, who was perched on Kagome's shoulder, letting him know that if Kagome was still this distraught when they arrived, he'd have to be the one to fill Kaede in on what had happened. Once again displaying a rare amount of maturity, the fox demon nodded with a determined look in his eyes, and Sango turned back to face Kirara.

"Hurry, Kirara! Get them to Kaede's fast, but be careful with Inuyasha's wounds!" Kirara growled in acknowledgment, and wasted no time taking to the air. The flying form of Kirara carrying her friends quickly faded from Sango's view.

Sango turned around to get Miroku, and jumped in surprise to find him right in front of her, handing her discarded Hiraikotsu to her.

"We should hurry," was all the monk said, and began walking. Recovering from both the shock of Miroku's unexpected presence, and his lack of perverted comments or actions given their situation (being alone and all), Sango tightened her grip on her giant boomerang and nodded, then quickly moved to catch up to the monk.

A/N: Okay, I think I'll stop there for now. Didn't move the plot along as much as I was planning, but I'm satisfied with what I have. Thanks to everyone who's being nice and reading this!


	3. Chapter 3: Operation

Inuyasha: Mister Niceguy!

A/N: Alright, I'm pretty pissed. I was gonna have this chapter up earlier today (Monday, December 27th if I don't finish this today). I had it FINISHED. Down to my endnotes. All I hadn't done was spellcheck it. Oh and save it. Actually, that's what I was doing. I had the save dialog box open, and was clicking on the directory I keep my fics saved in...

BAM.

OpenOffice just shuts itself down. And I lose my work.

I was very pissed. Now I have to write it over again. So I tried waiting long enough that my being pissed off at losing it the first time didn't make me rush through the rewrite, but if this chapter sucks, well, that's what I'm gonna blame it on.

**Disclaimer:**I still don't own Inuyasha or anything. I don't own these pants I'm wearing right now either...which is most disturbing.

**Chapter 3:**

Inuyasha was lying down on a tatami mat. His fire rat haori and the plain white keiko-gi he wore underneath sat in the corner, torn and bloodied, leaving nothing to obstruct the view of the horrific wound on the half demon's back. Kaede had been filled in by the traumatized Kagome, with no small amount of assistance from Shippo. Once Kaede had been brought up to speed, she sent the little fox demon outside with Kirara to wait for Miroku and Sango. Shippo didn't need to see the gruesome sight on Inuyasha's back, or the less than pleasant methods it would take to heal it.

After sending Shippo out of the hut, the elderly priestess got to work preparing herbs and medicines, leaving a teary-eyed Kagome to sit by Inuyasha's side. Once she'd finished her preparations, Kaede sat down at Inuyasha's side opposite Kagome and began cleaning out the wound and applying the medicines, with a serious and focused look in her eye.

Kagome was looking on intently through her tears, silently saying every prayer she could think of. After she sat working for sometime, Kaede stopped and looked up and gave a troubled sigh.

"W-what's wrong, Kaede? What's that look for?"

"It appears that the poison that has afflicted Inuyasha is preventing his accelerated recuperative abilities that his hanyou body gives him. It's also rendering my medicines ineffective," Kaede explained the situation with a grim demeanor. A glance at Kagome's horrified expression let her know that the young miko was about to break down into another bout of tears, so Kaede quickly continued. "Be calm, child, that only means that we must first purge the poison from Inuyasha's body. My powers as a miko will not be enough to purify it, so I will need your help, Kagome." Kaede stood up and grabbed something from the back of the hut, and when she returned she saw that Kagome had regained her composure, and her look of anguish had been replaced by one of focus and determination.

The fact that her abilities were necessary to help Inuyasha forced Kagome to pull herself together and focus everything she had on fulfilling that objective.

'I have to help Inuyasha! I can't keep sitting here blubbering over the situation and doing nothing to help! I HAVE TO HELP INUYASHA!" she mentally commanded herself. With that, she wiped her tears away and when Kaede returned from retrieving whatever she had gotten up for, Kagome gave her a firm nod to indicate that she was ready.

"Good. Now, the infection is deep within the wound, so we will need to use this to act as a conduit for our miko powers, to ensure that we purify and purge all of the poison," the old woman explained as she held out a small dagger.

Kagome's eyes widened and she let out a troubled gasp when she set her eyes on the knife in Kaede's hand. Hesitation had cracked the walls of her resolve, and tears threatened to retake her face.

"I-I can't! I can't hurt Inuyasha!" Tears drew ever closer to returning.

"We must do this, child! It's the only way we can reach all of the wound! Do not worry, Kagome, once we have purged the poison, Inuyasha's body will be able to heal itself again. The knife's damage will be erased, but none of his wounds will heal if we don't purify the poison!"

Kagome didn't like it, but the elder miko had convinced her that they had no other choice. Kagome nodded slowly and took the knife from Kaede.

Kagome secured the blade in her grasp, and held it above the center of Inuyasha's wound. She was working up the nerve to do what she had to do, and kept telling herself that it was the only way. She was a bit startled when she felt Kaede's hands wrap around her own, offering some modicum of comfort and support in the midst of the difficult situation. Kagome returned the gesture with a small smile, drew a deep breath and closed her eyes.

'I'm sorry, Inuyasha...'

With that thought, she brought the blade down and into the center of the wound. Inuyasha's body tensed up a little, and he let out a small cry of pain.

Kagome forced herself to ignore the signs of Inuyasha's torment, and focused on her task at hand. She concentrated her miko powers with all of her might, harder than she had ever done before. Her powers exploded and raged like a blazing fire, and almost instantly Kagome expelled the poison from Inuyasha's body.

Kaede's eye shot open at what had happened. Kagome's power had all but overwhelmed her. Quickly recovering from her shock, the old miko looked down at Inuyasha to find the infectious poison gone, and Inuyasha's discolored flesh had returned to it's normal color. Slowly, by demon standards, but amazingly fast by human reckoning, she could see Inuyasha's body working to heal the injuries.

"K-Kagome! Ye did it, child!"

Kagome's eyes shot open immediately, and were filled with confusion.

"What? But...we just started! What do you mean I did it?" she asked.

"It was amazing child! You let out an immense outburst of energy and eradicated the poison before I could even begin to focus my own powers! Look, child! The infection is gone!" Kaede exclaimed pointing to Inuyasha's back.

Kagome pulled the knife out and stared for a second. Her eyes widened as she saw it for herself. Inuyasha was healing! A smile overtook her face and tears of joy began to flow in place of the tears of sadness that had plagued her so much that day. Kagome looked up and launched herself to hug Kaede.

"He's going to be okay! He's really going to be okay!" Kagome couldn't contain the joy and elation she felt.

Kaede smiled and returned the hug briefly, but she quickly pried the excited girl off of her and reached for bandages she had prepared, bandages graciously provided by Kagome's big yellow backpack which had been left in the hut upon the young girl's last return from through the Bone Eater's Well.

"I must clean the wound again and dress it now, Kagome," she stated as she got back to work. Kagome nodded and sat back down at Inuyasha's side and watched as Kaede wrapped the bandages around Inuyasha's body. Once she was through, the old priestess got up to tend to other matters, leaving Kagome to watch over the sleeping hanyou. Kagome thought that the position Inuyasha was in, laying on his stomach wouldn't be very comfortable now that the "operation" was complete, so she gently and gingerly turned him over to lay on his back.

As she was finishing this maneuver, she heard a weak groan, and then a quiet voice.

"Ka...go...me...?"

Kagome jumped slightly at the sound, and looked down to find Inuyasha had awakened.

As had happened so many times that day, Kagome lost control of her emotions. But this time, she was letting her happiness run wild. She wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck and held him in a tight hug. She knew that the moment wouldn't last, and that she should be insanely embarrassed at the action, but she didn't care. She knew that Inuyasha would probably say something rude or stupid to ruin the moment, but she didn't care about that, either. All that mattered was that Inuyasha was okay.

"Inuyasha...I'm so glad that you're okay!"

With that, she waited, expecting a rude comment from the hurt hanyou rejecting Kagome's concern. But her expectations were not met. Instead, she felt Inuyasha's arms slowly wrap themselves around Kagome as he returned the hug.

Kagome was shocked, but at the same time she was incredibly happy. But before any other thoughts could run through her mind, they were interrupted by the sound of Inuyasha's voice.

"Ka...gome...thank you..."

And then Inuyasha's strength gave way, and his arms fell back to the tatami mat, and he went back to sleep.

But Kagome was again shocked and confused.

"Did...did Inuyasha just say...thank you..." Kagome sat up, her eyes wide, and tried to comprehend what had just happened.

A/N: And that's that. I think I liked the first ending to this chapter that I thought up, but seeing how it got lost, I'll have to settle for this. sigh Oh well. I've learned the old 'save often' lesson again. Anyway, now that Inuyasha is okay, I can start getting to the fun part of writing about Inuyasha acting all nice and stuff. On another note, I'm really putting these chapters out fast right now, aren't I? Yeah, enjoy that while it lasts, because I won't always be able to keep this up...especially if I lose a whole chapter again...But oh well. Some good did come out of having to rewrite this chapter...this version is a little longer than the first. Hopefully I'll start working to make my chapters longer. Anyway, please feel free to review, if you should so desire.


	4. Chapter 4: Repairs and Returns

Inuyasha: Mister Niceguy!

A/N: Nothing big to rant about today...But I do wanna thank those of you who have kindly reviewed and/or put me on your favorites and/or author alert lists!

**Disclaimer:** Disclaiming the disclaimable...And what would that be? I disclaim ownership of Inuyasha in any way, shape or form. And you should too, unless you're Rumiko Takahashi. And if you are...well, cool.

**Chapter 4:**

Inuyasha lay resting peacefully on his tatami mat, his labored breathing calmed and the strained expression wiped from his face. Since entering a peaceful slumber following his brief glimpse of consciousness after the "operation" that saved his life, calm and tranquility had engulfed Inuyasha. Which was almost certainly a first.

Kagome had never seen Inuyasha look so peaceful. After Inuyasha's affectionate outburst earlier, the young miko had found herself frantically thinking about the situation. Had Inuyasha really been so nice? Inuyasha never says "thank you." It was all so strange. So after pondering over Inuyasha's uncharacteristically good attitude during the scant few seconds he was awake, Kagome had shaken her head to try to clear her thoughts, then found herself glancing at Inuyasha. That was when she had first noticed how peaceful he looked. Her thoughts returned to the differences in Inuyasha...he was even looking different in his sleep! She sat there for a while just watching him sleep, but when her thoughts started shifting to how handsome he looked while sleeping so peacefully, a light blush conquered her face and Kagome decided it was a good time to get up and find something else to occupy her thoughts.

So she had walked over to the corner that held Inuyasha's discarded garments. She picked up the red fire-rat haori, and a thorough examination of it revealed no rips or tears where the spike had hit. As many times as Inuyasha had gotten stabbed or impaled, Kagome should have expected as much, but even so, every time the lack of evidence on the enchanted garment always amazed her.

'I wish MY clothes were able to heal themselves when they get ripped...'

Folding the haori and setting it back down, her gaze turned to the other shirt lying in the corner, the plain, white keiko-gi that Inuyasha always wore underneath the red robe that meant so much to him. Unfortunately, unlike the other garment, it wasn't super durable, and Kagome cringed a little at the large rip and the sickening bloodstains.

Scooping up the battered gi, Kagome walked over to her bag and pulled out a small sewing kit.

'I never had much use for this until I started traveling through the well...But after all the times it's come in handy since then I almost feel sorry that I chewed out Sota for giving me such a thoughtless birthday present that year...'

So Kagome sat back down at Inuyasha's side, working to mend the latest battle scar the poor gi had seen.

And so that was the scene that was interrupted some time later by the excited shouts of a small kitsune.

"Kagome! Kagome! Miroku and Sango are back!"

Kagome immediately shushed Shippo. "Shippo, be quiet! Inuyasha is still sleeping!"

Shippo gave a quick nod, but was smiling the whole time. His usual youthful exuberance had returned since Kaede had informed the boy of the "operation's" success on her way out of the hut to attend to other matters in the village. The then gloomy look on Shippo's face had immediately faded, and he had excitedly tried to dash into the hut until the old woman stopped him, telling him that he should stay outside and wait for the monk and the demon exterminator to return and to leave Kagome with Inuyasha for a while.

And after sitting for what seemed like hours on end, employing every ounce of strength he had to contain his excitement, Shippo was even more excited to be able to burst in and see Kagome.

Finishing the last stitch required to fix Inuyasha's gi, Kagome put the mended garment down and opened her arms, inviting the little kitsune to come get a hug. Shippo's smile widened as he happily accepted.

"Kagome, I'm so happy that Inuyasha is going to be okay! I was so worried about you earlier!"

"Me too." Kagome smiled softly and continued. "And thank you, Shippo."

"Huh? For what, Kagome?"

"For being a real trooper earlier, and making sure Kaede knew what was going on when I was...kinda out of it."

Shippo's smile enlarged tenfold as he felt a great sense of pride at Kagome's compliment. A few seconds later, however, a troubled look overtook his features, and he looked up at Kagome.

"What's wrong, Shippo?" Kagome asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"Kagome...what's a..."trooper?"

Kagome blinked and began giggling at Shippo's question. She was just about to give him an answer when something blocked out the main light source for the room.

Kagome looked up to see Sango, carrying Hiraikotsu, and Miroku holding his staff in one hand and a Tetsusaiga in another.

Kagome's eyes widened a bit at that...she hadn't even realized that they'd left Inuyasha's sword on the battlefield.

Kagome noticed that the two new arrivals had gravely concerned looks on their faces, with a hint of curiosity present as well.

'They're probably wondering how Inuyasha is doing..."

Kagome also noticed that the monk's face was devoid of slap marks, and the youkai exterminator's lacked that angry and embarrassed look that came about when she had to leave those slap marks. Kagome smiled a little, realizing how much both of them were worrying about Inuyasha, and how they could ignore their own petty concerns when their mutual friend was in trouble.

Before Kagome could notice anything else about the two, Kirara walked in behind them and rubbed against Sango's leg, purring at her master's return. Sango set aside her weapon, and scooped up the little cat demon, and decided now was as good a time as any to break the silence.

"Inuyasha...is he...alright?" she asked. Neither she or Miroku had been able to read Kagome's expressions clearly enough to tell Inuyasha's condition, and Shippo's confused grimace over the definition of a "trooper" had masked his cheerful attitude that would have explained the situation as well.

Kagome smiled brightly, and immediately the two new arrivals let out a breath of relief. Finally able to relax a bit, they sat down next to Inuyasha opposite Kagome so the young miko could fill them in on all the details.

After Kagome had finished telling the story of the past few hours, Sango and Miroku joined in her good mood.

"I'm most relieved that Inuyasha will be okay." Miroku said.

"Yeah, we spent the whole time worrying over him, Kagome, and worrying about you. Houshi-sama here was so worried that he didn't even act perverted the whole way home." Sango cursed herself the second that last word left her lips, as she recognized a familiar hand making it's way across her backside. Closing her eyes in anger, she launched a tight fist across the back of Miroku's head, forcing his hand to leave it's heavenly resting spot and leaving a large bump on Miroku's head. The only sound that made it's was out of her mouth was an angry growl, and Sango set a demonic glare on the lecherous monk.

"Now, now, Lady Sango, I was only making up for lost time..."

Kagome was laughing at this point, which surprised everyone else. Kagome usually shared in the exasperation against Miroku's hopeless actions, and this reaction surprised them a bit. Noticing the looks she was receiving, Kagome quickly responded, "Sorry guys, I guess I'm just glad that everything's back to normal now."

But then she remembered...Everything wasn't back to normal. She had neglected to mention it to the others, but she was still confused about Inuyasha's actions earlier. Inuyasha being nice...it still seemed odd.

Just as she was mulling over one oddity, Inuyasha presented her with another. She heard a soft murmur coming from Inuyasha. Looking down, she saw that tears trailing down his face. The others picked up on it, and they too expressed their surprise...

Inuyasha was crying!

A/N: And another chapter finished. So much for getting on with the meat of the story...here's another chapter of me being long-winded and setting things up for Inuyasha's awakening. But he's gonna wake up next chapter, I swear! And then things will finally start moving along (I hope!). Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: The Cheesiest Chapter Yet

Mister Niceguy!

A/N: Ooooo, been a few days since the last chapter, huh? Thanks again to those who've favorited/author alerted/reviewed It "warms the cockles of my heart," as it is said. Anyway, you might've noticed that I've retooled the title a bit, taking out the "Inuyasha" from the title, so now it's just "Mister Niceguy." No big deal, just thought that having "Inuyasha" in the title was unnecessary. shrug

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or any affiliated aspects of the series/character/hanyou. I also do not own the title "Mister Niceguy," even though the Jackie Chan movie is "Mr. Niceguy" not "Mister" but I don't think they own it either cause I seem to remember something about you can't own a title or something, but then I guess it could be trademarked or something but I'm not really sure and since I'm trying to get the effect of saying a bunch of stuff in a row without stopping maybe I should've not spaced the words out but I didn't so oh well please enjoy!

**Chapter 5:**

For the second time that day Inuyasha was crying. Before it had been due to the inexplicable agony brought forth by the vicious postmortem assault of the turtle youkai, but this time the tears were the result of a very different stimulus.

Inuyasha opened his watery eyes to see the concerned and quite baffled faces of his friends. Between sniffs he let his gaze slowly move from of them to the other, then once again Inuyasha shut his eyes. A brief second passed, then out of nowhere the hanyou sprang up and all but tackled Kagome, embracing her in a tight hug, tears still falling the whole time as he shut his eyes once more

Immediately, a blush covered Kagome's face, and the confused thoughts she had been thinking minutes before, and even those that troubled her after Inuyasha's last affectionate outburst, paled in comparison to the befuddlement that besieged her now. It was odd enough for Inuyasha to be nice to her when they were alone, but for him to openly express affection in front of the others was completely unheard of. Kagome tried to fight back her confusion and enjoy the moment, but knowing that the others had their equally shocked eyes locked on them only made her blush burn brighter.

Sango, Miroku and Shippo all sat perfectly still and in absolute silence, completely mesmerized by the events unfolding before them. Just as their expressions were the same, so were their thoughts one…

"Is Inuyasha…"

"…hugging…"

"…Kagome?"

As if sensing the embarrassment of the girl in his arms, or perhaps noticing the attention their friends had directed towards them, Inuyasha slowly broke away from hugging Kagome. His tears had stopped, but only for a second, for when he turned to the three spectators and gazed upon them with newly reopened eyes, they were once again flooded. With the same speed and exuberance he had displayed towards Kagome, Inuyasha lunged towards the trio and gathered them all up in one big group hug.

With her role reversed, Kagome now played the onlooker to the surprising event before her eyes. Inuyasha was hugging the others? It was odd him to hug Kagome whe n they were alone, odder for him to hug her when others were watching, and now it seemed the oddest still was happening: Inuyasha was unquestionably hugging the lecherous monk, the youkai exterminator, and even the little kitsune he had always seemed to despise.

'Inuyasha…what's gotten into you?' passed through Kagome's mind unspoken. But it was not necessary to speak such words, for they were exactly what those caught in the half demon's grasp were thinking as well.

After what seemed like an eternity spent analyzing the situation in an awed silence, Inuyasha broke away from his friends, and settled into a sitting position on his tatami mat. All eyes were still on him, and all eyes caught the bright smile on Inuyasha's face.

Not a sneer, not a smirk, a full-on SMILE. The kind that shows happiness and joy.

Inuyasha's tears had not been of pain or hurt as before; the had been tears of happiness.

Still silenced by witnessing their friend's most unusual change of mood, Inuyasha's friends listened on as Inuyasha opened his mouth to speak.

"Thank you all so much for what you did today…I don't know what I'd've done if it hadn't been for all of you…I'm so lucky to have such great friends." Inuyasha said, his voice betraying his poor attempt to stave off any more emotion than had already overflowed from him.

It seemed that the barrage of surprising behavior on the part of their silver haired comrade was finally beginning to lose its full shocking effect, as Kagome was now able to speak.

"I-Inuyasha….are you…alright?" she asked.

Perceiving her question as an inquiry of his physical condition, Inuyasha again amorously replied, "Yes, Kagome, and I have you to thank for it. And Kaede, too, but especially you Kagome." Again, Inuyasha leaned forward to wrap his arms around the girl, but this time he was much more calm and subdued. It was a friendly hug, but of a much more intimate manner than the hyperactively happy one he had launched before.

Blushing once more, Kagome was able clear her thoughts enough to decide to return the hug. 'Inuyasha…' she thought as her wide eyes closed a bit and she allowed herself to enjoy the embrace.

As he pulled away, Inuyasha warmly and softly muttered, "Thank you, Kagome." With that, he returned to his sitting position with another bright smile on his face.

Miroku had noticed that Inuyasha had not understood the intent of Kagome's question, even though Kagome herself had completely forgotten about it in the midst of Inuyasha's cuddling. Realizing that Kagome wasn't going to press the matter further at the moment, Miroku took it upon himself to explain what he was sure the girl had meant.

"Um, Inuyasha," Miroku paused briefly as Inuyasha's head quickly swung around with that strange grin on his face in a friendly gesture that showed he was devoting his complete attention to the monk. Miroku blinked a couple of times then continued. "What I think Lady Kagome meant was that you're acting a bit…unusual, at the moment." Miroku sighed a bit.

'It seems kind of odd to be asking this…' he was thinking.

It seemed that the "old" Inuyasha's inability to grasp social situations had translated into the "new" Inuyasha's denseness in comprehending what the others were so confused about. He voiced this inability to understand, saying, "I…don't think I quite know what you mean…"

'Is he playing games with us?' Sango silently mused at Inuyasha's response.

"Do you mean that you don't _realize_ that you're acting differently from before?" she asked. Her question was met with the same quick shift of Inuyasha's attention that Miroku had encountered. The smile that had resided upon his face had now contorted a bit into a slight frown. The frown wasn't angry or even frustrated; the softness of Inuyasha's face hadn't changed. Instead, Inuyasha's expression was of lighthearted puzzlement as he pondered on the meaning of Sango's words.

Finally Inuyasha looked back at the youkai exterminator with a resigned look, then apologetically began, "I'm sorry, but I don-"

Shippo had had enough of waiting, and like kids often do, jumped right to the point. Cutting Inuyasha off, Shippo impatiently demanded, "Inuyasha, WHY ARE YOU BEING SO NICE ALL OF A SUDDEN!"

Quiet once again conquered the room, and Inuyasha stared at Shippo with an unreadable expression. Shippo started shifting about uncomfortably, tensely awaiting and expecting a violent response from Inuyasha. When the half demon finally reached out his arm in response, Shippo cowered at what he perceived to be an oncoming punch across the head. But again, Inuyasha did the unexpected, and kindly patted the little kitsune on the head. Once he sensed that Shippo had calmed down, Inuyasha picked Shippo up and placed him on his shoulder, a favorite perching spot for the kitsune, but one Inuyasha rarely tolerated.

While Inuyasha's kind gestures had calmed Shippo and convinced him he need not fear the usual Inuyasha response of violence, it was still a mystery as to why. But Shippo's less than tactful outburst seemed to finally get the question across to the group's resident half demon, and with everyone's eyes fixed on him, including those of the diminutive fox demon on his shoulder, Inuyasha cleared his throat and quietly began to explain.

"I'm sorry for being less than friendly to all of you in the past, but ever since the accident I've realized that I have no reason to try to push you all away. It's thanks to all of you that I made it through this, and I'm truly thankful." Inuyasha flashed another one of those winning smiles at the group. With that, he continued on his decidedly cheesy speech, "I'm so happy that I have such great friends!" Inuyasha began to lose control of his emotions again in a manner that would have utterly sickened him a day ago, and everyone still had their eyes on him.

While she was listening to Inuyasha's little oration, Kagome was still thinking that something was wrong, and that it seemed very odd that Inuyasha's personality had taken a complete 180. But as he finished up, the stare she had held on him, the one that had so eagerly awaited an explanation to his behavior softened, and Kagome's thoughts shifted.

'It's so odd that Inuyasha's acting so differently…But, maybe he's really just taken on a different outlook since his accident. Is it really alright for me to question his behavior?' Kagome came out of her thoughts for a moment to witness Inuyasha failing to maintain control of his emotions after his talk. 'I've always wanted Inuyasha to be more open and friendly with us…Maybe I should just accept it and be happy.'

With that, Kagome decided to stop worrying about why Inuyasha was acting so different and embrace his new demeanor. She put a smile on her face and started moving towards Inuyasha.

It seemed that everyone else had come to a similar conclusion. Shippo was sympathetically patting the emotional Inuyasha on the shoulder he was perched upon, and Sango and Miroku were making their way over to him as well. Kagome got there first, and she locked Inuyasha into a warm hug, for the first time unembarrassed and sure that Inuyasha wouldn't let his rough image force himself to push her away.

Inuyasha was a bit surprised, having noticed the girl's discomfort when their roles had been the reverse a while ago. He looked up to see the girl smiling at him comfortingly, and he gladly smiled back. He turned to smile at Shippo, who returned the favor. Inuyasha then felt an arm on his other shoulder, and turned to find Sango offering her own comforting smile, and looked up to find Miroku sharing the moment, showing his support for the hanyou as well.

Seeing that all of his friends were willing to reciprocate Inuyasha's new personable feelings instead of dwelling on his past rudeness filled him with glee. But for a brief second, Inuyasha's thoughts turned to these past actions, instances in which he didn't show his feelings for friends, memories he only vaguely remembered and didn't quite understand…But another glance at the warm smiles surrounding him pushed thouse thoughts from his mind as he, for the first time, openly and truly enjoyed the company of his friends.

A/N: This chapter is REALLY cheesy. But I guess it needs to be. Okay, I think I'm finally going to get to the fun part of the story that was one of the chief ideas when I came up with this. Hopefully. And I think that I don't have enough dialogue and/or thoughts from the characters themselves, so I've been trying to add more of that, although I don't think I succeeded so much in this chapter. What do you guys think? Anyway, please review if you want!


	6. Chapter 6: Sorrowful Sango

Mister Niceguy

A/N: Nothing much to say today…I am a little saddened by the lack of reviews, but I promised myself I wouldn't go all psycho demanding them or anything. So I'll just keep politely asking for them…

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Inuyasha.

**Chapter 6:**

After the group had finished their happy little moment, Inuyasha was ready to get back on his feet. He might be nicer, but his aversion to being holed up in bed for long still remained. Inuyasha's hanyou recuperative abilities had finished healing most of Inuyasha's injury, so Kagome didn't try to stop Inuyasha from getting up. Usually, she probably would have insisted that he rest some more, but the fact that Inuyasha had expressed gratitude for Kagome's help instead of balking at it had made her more willing to let Inuyasha get up as he pleased.

Inuyasha stood up and stretched, which showed off the muscles on his still bare chest a bit more than laying around did. Noticing this with a blush, Kagome fumbled around for his keiko gi and handed it to him.

"I fixed up your gi, Inuyasha," she began, then glanced back down and remembered that the bloodstains were still there. "Erm…but I didn't get around to cleaning the bloodstains yet…"

Inuyasha smiled at her, and Kagome smiled back again, happy that Inuyasha seemed appreciative of what she did. But then she noticed that Inuyasha was still unclad from the waist up, and blushed again, remembering why she had shown him his gi in the first place.

Inuyasha was about to vocalize his thanks, but Kagome cut in. "Your fire rat haori is in the corner…You'll probably want to wear that until we can get this cleaned up." Without waiting for the nod Inuyasha sent her way, Kagome quickly turned around and headed over to the corner to retrieve Inuyasha's garment. Inuyasha turned as well and followed her with his gaze.

Meanwhile, the others were watching the whole spectacle in amusement. It had always been fun to watch the two try to hide their feelings for each other, and now with the changed Inuyasha, it was still just as fun if not more so.

Shippo and Miroku had been making little comments to each other, leaving Sango to take in the show by herself, petting the content Kirara laying in her lap.

When Inuyasha turned around, the amused audience ended their quiet snickering. There was a nasty scar on his back where his wound had been. The monk and the kitsune cringed at the scar, but the painful sight had a different affect on the youkai exterminator.

Sango's happy thoughts had been invaded by the sight of the scar, but unbeknownst to the others, it wasn't merely the sickening sight of it that troubled her.

'That scar….it looks just like…' Sango began pondering. Her hand had stopped its mindless stroking of the two-tailed cat youkai in her lap and reached back and moved to rest on her own back. Kirara, unhappy that Sango had stopped petting her, looked up to see a wave of sadness overtake Sango's face.

'That scar….it looks just like mine…and Kohaku's…' The pangs of sadness deepened as sad thoughts of her lost brother ran through Sango's mind. 'Kohaku…I wasn't able to save you…and now you're a slave to Naraku…and it seems like there's nothing I can…'

Sango was doing everything she could to hold back her tears, but even so, a muffled cry escaped her lips. This drew the attention of Miroku. Once the monk noticed Sango's distraught expression, his own expression changed into one of concern and sympathy.

'What's wrong with…'

"Lady Sango?" the monk inquired, trying to get her to tell him what was wrong.

But Sango wasn't in the mood to talk about her problems. Ignoring the monk's query, she abruptly stood up, dropping Kirara from her comfortable position.

The sudden movement caught the attention of Kagome and the newly clothed Inuyasha, who also picked up on Sango's troubled appearance.

'I can't let them see me like this…So weak…'

Before anyone could prod any further, Sango blurted out, "I'm going to take a bath in the river…I'll be back later." With that, she quickly turned around and quickly made her way out the door.

Kagome was concerned about her friend and dashed out the door behind her. "Wait, Sango! I'll come with you!"

The boys stood in silence for a moment, when finally Shippo asked, "I wonder what that was about."

Miroku quickly wiped the concerned look off of his face, and resumed his normal, cool expression. "I wouldn't worry about it, Shippo. Lady Kagome will surely help Sango with whatever is wrong," Miroku reasoned, trying to keep himself from showing any more concern for the demon exterminator than he already had. But behind the façade, Miroku was still very much concerned for Sango.

'How I would like to go to comfort you, Lady Sango, but I know that you would not want me by your side to help you through whatever troubles you. After all, I'm just a perverted monk….no, I'll just leave you alone and let Lady Kagome lend you her support.' Miroku somberly told himself, his usual perverted thoughts set aside for more worried ones of the youkai exterminator he so longed for.

Shippo seemed to accept Miroku's reasoning, and let the worry fade from his face, content that Kagome would take care of everything.

But Inuyasha still had a sad look on his face. The hanyou tried to shift his attention from his own concern for his friend by adjusting his haori, which he noticed wasn't quite as comfortable without his gi underneath. Upon straightening the outer shirt, he felt a stinging pain pierce his back. Inuyasha reached around to run his fingers over the scar when a sense of understanding struck him.

'Sango…was this why you were so upset…Was it because of me…' Inuyasha was saddened when he realized that the sight of his scar was what had disturbed the exterminator, and began to blame himself for causing his friend such distress.

Shippo had noticed Inuyasha was still deep in thought, and decided to test out the advantages of the new Inuyasha. "Stop worrying, Inuyasha, you heard Miroku! Kagome will make sure everything is fine! Let's go play outside Inuyasha!" Shippo grinned devilishly and pushed Inuyasha, then bolted out the door laughing. "Tag, you're it!"

Not expecting the kitsune's assault, Inuyasha lost his balance and fell to the floor. He smiled a bit and decided to accept Shippo's offer.

'The poor kid…fighting demons with us all the time doesn't leave him much time to play around like he should…I should let him be a kid during these rare he times he has the chance.'

Inuyasha quickly leaped back up to his feet and bounded out the door. "Ready or not Shippo, here I come!"

Kirara purred and followed after the two, figuring she could somehow join in the fun too. And all alone, Miroku let himself drop his emotional shield and worry about Sango.

---

Kagome and Sango sat soaking in the river in complete silence. Kagome had tried a number of times to get Sango to tell her what was wrong, but every time she was met with half-hearted assurances that she was fine.

But the sad look in Sango's eyes told her everything wasn't fine, and she sat worrying for her friend.

'Sango…why can't you just tell me what's wrong…?'

Once it was clear that Sango wasn't going to let her help, the two finished their bath and got dressed. Still silent, they somberly made their way back to Kaede's hut to find Inuyasha and Shippo playing tag, with Kirara chasing them about as well.

Kagome stopped and smiled at the sight of Inuyasha and Shippo getting along so well, but Sango kept drudging forward into the hut. Noticing this made the frown return to Kagome's face.

Inuyasha noticed that everything wasn't alright, and left the game to walk up to Kagome. Shippo was about to protest when he was tackled by Kirara, who still wanted to play. Shippo forgot about Inuyasha's exit from the game, and continued it with Kirara.

Inuyasha took on the same look of concern as Kagome, and asked, "Everything's not okay, is it?"

Kagome was a still little surprised by Inuyasha's concern, but quickly recovered. She looked up at Inuyasha and shook her head.

"I tried over and over, but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. I'm really worried, Inuyasha…It's not like Sango to not talk to me…"

Inuyasha nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think I know what's wrong…I'll go try to talk to her." Inuyasha turned around and headed for the hut, leaving Kagome a bit surprised again.

'This is really going to take some getting used to…but, I think I'm going to like this sensitive Inuyasha.' Kagome's thoughts on the half demon brought a smile to her face. She looked around to see Kirara and Shippo playing, and decided to join in.

"Yay! Kagome's gonna play with us! Isn't that great, Kirara?" Shippo happily exclaimed. But he was met with another tackle from the small youkai, which brought forth giggle from Kagome.

Sango walked into the hut to find Miroku sitting against the wall, and she almost immediately turned around to exit.

'I'm really not in the mood to deal with that perverted monk right now…'

She stopped when she noticed that he seemed to be asleep. Warily deciding that she could deal with a perverted monk as long as he was asleep, Sango walked to the opposite end of the room and sat down on the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest and leaning over. Satisfied that she was finally alone, she began to cry.

But Sango had been wrong about Miroku. The monk wasn't asleep, only meditating and deep in thought. He had heard the object of his hidden (and not so hidden) affections enter the room, as well as her near exit from the room. Miroku maintained his calm outer appearance, but on the inside he sighed, disappointed that his presence had almost prompted her to leave.

'Do I really disgust you that much, Lady Sango?' Miroku asked himself. 'What am I saying…It's all my fault, always acting like a pervert around you. But if I didn't…then…' Miroku began to think on why he always acted like a pervert. If he didn't, Sango might get too close, and he couldn't allow anyone, especially the one he cared so deeply for, to get too attached to him while his cursed Wind Tunnel loomed over his head, ready to take his life and leave his beloved alone. 'No…it's better that I suffer without her than for her to suffer when my curse claims me.' Miroku tried to convince himself with the excuse he always fed himself as to why he couldn't seriously express his feelings for Sango.

His thoughts were interrupted by the soft sound of Sango's crying. Miroku cracked his eyes to open to gaze upon the melancholy girl. It pained him to see Sango crying. He closed his eyes again, and continued to argue with himself. 'I can't bear to see her cry…It doesn't matter if I need to keep her away, I want to go comfort her!' he yelled at himself in his mind. But another voice argued back, 'But does she want you to comfort her? You always say you act perverted to keep her from loving you…but what makes you think she'd even love you in the first place?' Miroku was saddened at that thought. That she had almost left because he was there proved that she probably didn't have the feelings for him that he wanted but couldn't allow her to have. Miroku brooded over this for a few seconds, then retorted, 'But if she doesn't have those feelings for me anyway, then nothing's holding me back. I can go to her…comfort her…as a friend…I can't let Lady Sango love me…but, I don't want her to hate me. And in any case, I can't bear to see her cry. I've decided! I'm going to go comfort her!'

Just as he had finally decided that he was going to try to make her feel better, Miroku heard another person enter the room. Surprise at the new arrival led him to maintain his sleeping charade and listen in on what was happening.

Inuyasha had made his way into the hut and saw Sango crying. He glanced at the sleeping monk briefly, but his gaze quickly returned to the crying girl.

Sango, too, had noticed Inuyasha's arrival, and looked up to see him moving towards her. She quickly tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, not wanting to reveal her supposed weakness.

"G—go away, Inuyasha. I want to be alone right now," she told him, her voice still shaky from crying.

Inuyasha ignored her request and continued making his way over to her. Once there, he knelt down in front of Sango, who had buried her face into her arms that were still clinging to her knees, trying vainly to keep anyone from seeing her cry.

Inuyasha stayed there for a moment without saying anything, as he looked for the words to say. Finally breathing a deep sigh, he began.

"You're upset because of me, aren't you?" he asked sadly.

Sango looked up, surprised by the question. While she was quite content in wallowing in her own misery, she didn't want to hurt Inuyasha's feelings by making him think he was the cause of it. Quickly, she retorted, "No! That's not it at all!"

Inuyasha slowly shook his head. "I don't believe you." Before Sango could say anything else, Inuyasha continued. "It's because of the scar, isn't it? I'll bet it brings up a ton of bad thoughts." Inuyasha stopped for a second, then finished, "I bet it reminds you of...Kohaku..."

Sango sat in awe. Inuyasha had hit the nail dead on. Unable to deny it any more, Sango simply nodded, then allowed herself to cry freely again.

Inuyasha had changed in many ways since he received his scar, but some things stayed the same. One of those things was that he still hated seeing people cry. Inuyasha grabbed Sango's shoulders then helped her up to her feet. Once they were both standing again, he wrapped his arms around the crying girl, offering her a friendly embrace in his attempt to stop her crying.

Sango felt very awkward. She had always been uncomfortable hugging anyone other than Kohaku and her father, and the fact that this was Inuyasha made things even weirder.

"Sango...I'm sorry that I'm the reason you're upset," Inuyasha whispered as he continued to hold the youkai exterminator in his arms. "I'm sorry that we haven't been able to save Kohaku yet...But we'll free him from Naraku's grasp soon. All of us, together, when we put an end to that bastard..." Inuyasha's eyes flared for a short second, but then the fire was gone. He tightened his hold on Sango.

Sango began to relax, and accepted the friendly hug from Inuyasha. She was grateful that Inuyasha cared enough to try to comfort her, and she finally felt a little better.

Inuyasha sensed Sango's sadness lessen a little, and disengaged the embrace, all the while offering a warm smile. Sango returned his smile with one of her own.

"Thank you, Inuyasha. I think I feel a little better," she said as she wiped away the last of her tears. "I think I'd better go apologize to Kagome, now. I wasn't very nice to her earlier."

Inuyasha nodded and stepped aside, allowing Sango an un-obstructed path to the door. He followed, wanting to rejoin the game of tag outside.

As they walked out the door, past the "sleeping" monk, they took little notice that Miroku had shifted from his sitting position and was now rolled over on his side, thinking it to be a natural movement during his slumber.

But just as they didn't notice that he was really awake, they didn't realize that he had rolled over to hide his face from them. After seeing what had just happened, Miroku had been unable to control his expression any longer. Tears were welling in his eyes, and he was gritting his teeth. Anger overflowed within Miroku, an anger brought about by jealousy.

'Inuyasha...You BASTARD!'

A/N: Okay, so there we go. There were some parts of this chapter that I think are kinda weak, and I felt that I was kinda repetitive in my word choice at times, but whatever. By the way, does anyone know what the name for the sickle weapons are? Like the one on Kohaku's weapon? I can't for the life of me remember the proper name for them...Anyway, please review! (I am getting disheartened by the lack of new reviews...I'll give you guys candy...)


	7. Chapter 7: Hide and Seek

**Mister Niceguy**

A/N: Wheee! Lots of reviews this time! And this story is hitting and passing the 10000 word mark! Yay!

And now I'm gonna respond to some of the newer reviews…

chakitattyla2h8 – Thanks for the kind words, and don't worry about not reviewing sooner, thanks for reviewing at all

Nicole Miklos – I'm glad you like it and find it to be different.

Priestess kurumi inu's sister :P What's going to happen? Why, read and find out!

Akileh – Whee, thanks for all the reviews! And I know that Inuyasha isn't acting like the Inuyasha we all know and love….but that's kinda the point of the story…;;

And away we go!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own MacGyver.

…

Or Inuyasha.

**Chapter 7:**

Shippo was hiding up in a tree. The game of tag had evolved into a round of hide and seek shortly after Kagome took Inuyasha's place. Shippo was snickering quietly to himself thinking that he'd found the perfect spot. See, Shippo wasn't simply hiding up in the tree…he had used his kitsune magic to morph into what looked like another branch on the tree.

Or so he thought, but Shippo's bushy fox tail was sticking out of the "random" branch, and was a glaring giveaway to Shippo's hiding spot. Too bad it was an oversight Shippo made all too often in his transformations…

Kagome had noticed the out of place foxtail and had caught on to Shippo's trick just before she noticed Inuyasha following a seemingly cheerier looking Sango out of the hut. She started heading over towards them.

As Kagome was walking, she smiled at the fact that Sango finally looked like she was feeling better. Then she began to wrap her mind around the fact that it was Inuyasha who had succeeded in cheering the youkai exterminator up where she herself had failed. She smiled at how completely backwards the situation was, and kept smiling, content in the fact that the "new" Inuyasha had gained the sensitive and caring attitude that she had always looked for in him…

She was taken from her thoughts when she bumped into the two, having not realized that she had met up with them. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she made sure to speak up quickly to cut off any possible comments to her clumsiness. Not that they would've come from the "sensitive and caring" Inuyasha, but it takes time for old habits to die.

"Ah, Sango! You look like you're feeling much better!" she said cheerily, flashing a big smile at her friend. She was elated to see Sango return a smile of her own.

"I am, Kagome-chan! I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. I know you were trying to help, and I really appreciate it even though I didn't show it," Sango replied.

"That's okay, Sango. I'm just glad you're feeling better!" Kagome said, continuing to smile. Sango's smile brightened, happy that her friend wasn't harboring any ill will towards her. Not that she had really expected any; Kagome was always kind and caring towards her. Sango was happy to have the young miko as a friend.

Kagome broke up the smile fest and gently elbowed Inuyasha. "I guess Inuyasha here is just way better than me at cheering people up, eh, Sango?"

Sango smiled somewhat awkwardly, while Inuyasha was blushing, taking Kagome's comment as a compliment. Sango wasn't quite sure about how to answer that. Inuyasha's huggles had confused her…Before, the only people Inuyasha had ever hugged were Kagome and Kikyo, the two people he obviously had special feelings for. This left Sango with the impression that the hanyou only hugged those who were very special to him, and wasn't sure what it meant that Inuyasha had hugged her earlier.

'That was the old Inuyasha….this Inuyasha is just really friendly. That's all.' Sango was struggling to convince herself, but for the moment she pushed the thoughts out of her head.

Thankfully, Inuyasha broke up her silent reverie as he turned to Kagome and asked a question. "Hey Kagome."

"Hmm?" Kagome inquired as she redirected her attention to the half demon.

"Where's Shippo and Kirara?"

Kagome suddenly remembered the game. "Oh, Kirara got tired and went to sleep over there," she said, pointing to a rock a ways back," she said, gesturing behind her. "And as for Shippo…"

Kagome explained to Inuyasha that they were now playing hide and seek, and Shippo was hiding in and as a tree. She expressed that her desire to surprise him because he was pulling a dirty trick, but she couldn't climb the tall tree.

Then idea struck her. "Wait, I've got it!" Inuyasha looked at her intently, waiting to hear her plan. "Tag, you're it!" she tapped Inuyasha's shoulder, which solicited a confused look from the half demon. "Now you're it Inuyasha, and climbing a tree will be no problem for you. And since Shippo doesn't KNOW you're it, he'll never see it coming!" she explained, practically exploding in a fit of giggles. "I'll go walk around the tree and pretend I can't find him, and while I do, you get him, alright?"

Inuyasha smiled and nodded.

Sango spoke up. "I'm gonna go watch from over there with Kirara, okay guys?" The scheming duo nodded, and Sango started heading to Kirara's rock where she was met warmly by her youkai companion.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha took to the trees, stealthily jumping from one to another, hoping that the young kitsune wouldn't notice him.

But Shippo was still so excited that Kagome hadn't found him yet that he wouldn't have noticed Inuyasha anyway. Finally he heard Kagome's voice from below the tree.

"That Shippo is hiding good…Where could he be?" Kagome's acting abilities left much to be desired, but Shippo was so smug that he had seemingly outwitted the girl that he didn't notice.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha had snuck up behind the bushy-tailed branch undetected. He whispered, "Hey Shippo."

Shippo replied, distracted, "What is it, Inuyasha?"

"You're it."

"Huh?" Shippo returned to his natural form and turned around, only to be met with a push from Inuyasha, knocking him out of the tree. "Waaaaaaaaaaaah!" Shippo closed his eyes and screamed, expecting to have an unpleasant reunion with the ground. Instead, he felt himself fall into Kagome's arms, and he opened his eyes to see the girl's face full of laughter.

"You're it, Shippo!"

Forgetting his "near-death experience," Shippo took on an indignant expression. "Hey, that's not fair! I thought YOU were it, Kagome!"

Inuyasha had jumped down and was standing next to them. "Oh, and since when is climbing up a tree where Kagome can't reach you and using your fox magic to disguise yourself fair?" he asked with a wry smile.

Shippo started laughing nervously. "Eh heh…um, well, okay, I guess you guys got me fair and square then. But how did you guys find me?"

Kagome smiled and pointed to the little kitsune's bushy tail. "You always forget about that, don't you?"

Shippo crossed his arms and pouted a little, and Inuyasha and Kagome started laughing again. Sango, who had watched the whole scene unfold from a distance had rejoined the group with Kirara in her arms, laughing all the way.

Miroku had watched the whole thing from the window of the hut. But he wasn't sharing in the laughter and cheer with the others. Instead, he watched grinding his teeth the whole time, seething with jealous anger.

"I can't believe you, Inuyasha. Lady Kagome isn't enough, you have to steal my Sango away from me, too?" Normally a thought like this would've made the monk blush to himself…Thinking about Sango as his always surprised him. But now his feelings for Sango were being brought to the surface freely, but still obstructed by the monk's jealous rage.

"I won't forgive you for this, Inuyasha," Miroku said to himself. Soon the monk noticed that the others had finished up their game and were making their way back to the hut. He tried to regain his composure as best he could, with only marginal success.

The others made their way through the door, and once they were all inside they took notice of Miroku's presence.

Sango smiled at the monk and greeted him. "Hello, Miroku! Did you have a nice nap?"

Normally, Miroku would have been overjoyed to receive attention from his beloved Sango, and then would invariably manipulate the situation to the advantage of his perverted mind, which would undoubtedly earn him a slap. But instead, the monk ignored Sango's comment, glaring at Inuyasha with enraged eyes.

Sango's smile faded some at Miroku's failure to acknowledge her greeting.

'Houshi-sama…every time I convince myself to ignore your perverted comments and try to reach out to you, you always do something to push me away. And now you're not even joking around and doing something stupid…You're just ignoring me…' Sango chastised herself for thinking that she and Miroku could ever become more than friends, and felt a twinge of sadness threatening to return. But determined that she wasn't going to break down again, she tried to convince herself that it was okay. 'Oh well. Who would want a relationship with a pervert like him anyway?' Lying to herself about her feelings for Miroku seemed to be the best way to try to hide away the hurt she felt at his coldness.

Sango's disappointment went unnoticed to the monk, whose eyes were still fixed on Inuyasha with a quiet fury. Inuyasha took notice of the fact that he was being stared at, and cheerfully directed his attention to the monk. "What's up, Miroku?"

Miroku's eyes widened, outraged that Inuyasha was being so friendly with him after being so nice to Sango.

'How _dare_ he talk to me like that!'

Miroku was seething with anger. Knowing that if he didn't get away from the half demon, he was going to try to do something that he would regret, Miroku decided it was best to get out of the hut. Not that he was in the mindset to regret getting revenge on Inuyasha, but Inuyasha was still much stronger than he was and he would regret attempting it without a plan. He brushed past Inuyasha and out the door, quickly saying, "I have something I need to take care of; I'll be back later." With that he speedily made his way to the forest, where he could think things out.

The others looked a little surprised. "Is something wrong with Miroku?" Inuyasha asked.

"He seemed kind of upset…I hope he's okay…" Kagome mused.

But Sango, who was still trying to convince herself to be mad at Miroku, walked to the back of the hut and stated matter-of-factly, "Oh I don't think we need to worry about the monk. He's probably just going out to meditate or find some poor woman to torment…I say we just leave him alone." Sango made her way to the "kitchen" of the hut, and got some supplies and food. "Help me get dinner going. I'm starving!"

Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippo had nodded at Sango's reasoning about Miroku's hasty exit and went to help her with dinner. Once they had gathered the cooking gear, they started a fire in the fireplace and went about cooking dinner. As it came close to being finished, Kaede walked through the door, limping.

Kagome noticed the trouble the elderly priestess was having, and concernedly asked, "Kaede! Are you okay?"

Kaede tried to put her pupil at ease. "Don't worry child, I just twisted my ankle while I was out in the village…" Just as she finished her sentence, the woman tripped and began to fall.

But just before she hit the ground, Inuyasha caught her and helped her regain her balance.

Inuyasha asked, "Take it easy, Kaede. Are you alright?"

Kaede saw a look of genuine concern in Inuyasha's eyes, and was surprised by it. She nodded, and Inuyasha helped her sit down next to Kagome, then handed her some food.

Kaede didn't vocalize her confusion at Inuyasha's behavior for a while, but after dinner Inuyasha made his way outside to laze about in a tree, leaving Kaede open to ask about Inuyasha.

Kagome explained that he had started acting this way when he woke up, and made it pretty clear that she was happy with it and didn't want to ask too many questions. Kaede took notice of that and didn't press the matter further, but began thinking over the situation thoroughly.

'Inuyasha experiencing a complete change in his personality…How odd…'

But before she could mull over it any further, they were all distracted by a loud commotion coming from outside.

Shippo voiced his surprise first. "What's going on!"

Kagome answered, "It must be a youkai…I sense jewel shards!"

A/N: And that's chapter 7! Yeah, I know, I haven't gotten into Miroku's jealousy much, yet, but I'm gonna get to it. Just gonna take it slow…And poor Miroku…everyone was so concerned about Sango, but nobody seems to care about the monk…Y'know, I notice that Miroku gets the short end of the stick in quite a few fics I've read…Maybe I'll have to write one about Miroku to make it up to him :P And I'm not sure I should take the story in the direction it's going next chapter just yet, but I guess I will anyway…Oh well…until next time, thanks for reading! (That's Hirospeak for "hypnovision handsREVIEEEEWWWWW!")…(Yes, hypnovision hands are part of the language of Hirospeak)


	8. Chapter 8: Ogre Battle! Rar!

**Mister Niceguy**

A/N: So, at the time I started writing this, I had a little message that said "Wow, long time since last update, eh?" etc. etc. and chronicled what had occupied my time at the time. Well, watching the Gundam Wing boxset I got for $80 is no longer current, so now I'm going to blame depression, school, depression brought on from school (I'm going to fail Calculus! seppuku), Stargate and Stargate, and the various anime DVDs I've gotten for a lot cheaper than MSRP (namely all of the Slayers TV series). That and the fact that I've just been in one big artistic and...writertistic slump for some time, which is probably due in no small part to the aforementioned depression...But anyway, I'm gonna try to finish this chapter off and hopefully not go so long inbetween chapters (especially when what you get isn't worth the wait...) And hopefully the Kenshin Kyoto arc DVDs I just got from Half Price Books won't keep me too distracted in the future...coughcough

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or my pants. Wah.

**Chapter 8: (Oooh, 8's my lucky number, y'know?)**

Having been through so many battles with youkai during their journey, Kagome and the others had gotten almost accustomed to demon attacks. The surprise and fear they felt at the appearance of the deadly creatures had become minimal since the beginning of their journey, replaced with a down to business attitude of facing the situation head on.

But this time it was different. Where they would have usually grabbed their weapons and scrambled to the scene of battle, Kagome and Sango stood frozen in the confines of Kaede's hut.

"Kagome-chan…you sense a youkai right outside the hut?" Sango asked softly and tentatively. Her eyes betrayed a sense of worry, a gaze that was mimicked by the girl she addressed.

Kagome didn't respond. She merely stood there, frozen with the same worried look in her eyes. The girl was almost shivering, having come to the same unspoken realization that she knew Sango had reached as well.

Shippo however, was a little more dense than the two lovely ladies, and was becoming impatient at the lack of action. Not that he _wanted_ to go fight the youkai, but it would be easier to hide if the girls would hurry up and take it on…

The little fox demon shook his head a little bit, the slightest shred of guilt and embarrassment at his thoughts coming over him. Shaking it aside, he looked up at Kagome and asked, "Hey Kagome, why do you look so worried about a youkai? We fight off demons all the time, why are you so upset now?"

Kagome snapped out of her trance and looked down at Shippo, worry still etched on her face. The worry was accompanied by a mild look of bewilderment. Did Shippo really not understand the situation?

"I know we've fought off tons of youkai before now…but what has changed since the last youkai attack?"

Shippo's eyes widened in understanding, and he slapped himself on the forehead. 'How could I have been so stupid! Inuyasha isn't himself anymore…Will he still be able to fight like he used to?'

Kagome returned to worrying about the situation when Kaede stepped into the "conversation."

"Well what are ye waiting for, girls! Inuyasha is out there left to fight the demon alone! We must hurry and help him!" The old woman yelled, gripping her bow tightly and strapping on her quiver of arrows. She quickly started making her way to the door when she tripped, having stepped awkwardly on her injured leg.

Sango quickly made her way over to catch the elderly miko, showing concern for their invigorated host. "Are you alright, Lady Kaede?"

Kaede brushed off Sango's assistance and vainly tried to return to her feet. "I'm alright, child. We must hurry!"

Kagome stepped in. "You're in no condition to fight like that, Kaede. You should stay here."

"Bah! I'm a tough old woman. A little sprained ankle isn't going to keep me from fighting off a youkai!" Kaede exclaimed, exhibiting a fervor for battle the girls had rarely seen.

But Kagome was much too stubborn to concede to the woman's demands. After all, she had contended with Inuyasha on a daily basis, and that task required her to be more stubborn than a mule. Kagome firmly addressed her elder in a manner reminiscent of the one she used when chastising Inuyasha, "No Kaede, you're too injured to fight. We can take care of the youkai ourselves."

A loud crash came from outside, and was followed by a yell that obviously belonged to Inuyasha. Everyone in the small hut flinched at the sounds.

Kaede was the first to recover, and still cranky, barked out a command to the two girls. "You two might be able to take care of things yourselves, but methinks that might not be true of Inuyasha at the moment. Hurry and go help him!"

The two girls jumped at the command, and Sango nodded and began to quickly change into her battle garb. In the short time she waited for her companion to complete the task, Kagome was left to mentally reprimand herself.

'Of course…I'm here worrying whether Inuyasha will be okay when I should be out there helping him. And here I am, still waiting…That's it, I'm going now!'

As soon as she broke out of her reverie to dash off alone to the battlefield, Sango was at her side, already changed and ready to go.

"Kirara, let's go!" Sango shouted and the two-tailed cat youkai transformed into her monstrous form without delay and joined the two girls on their way out the door.

Shippo stood up behind them, fearfully and slowly starting to follow when Kagome shouted out to him, "Shippo, you stay behind and take care of Kaede!" With that, the kitsune plopped back down, mentally exhaling a sigh of relief, completely forgetting his earlier guilt at brought about by his cowardice.

The girls made their way to the battleground to find Inuyasha crouching on the limb of a tree in a ready stance, prepared to bounce off and lunge toward the demon at it's next strike. Following the hanyou's gaze, they turned to discover what youkai had attacked.

A large ogre was struggling to get up. From the looks of it, Kagome thought that it had charged at Inuyasha, whose nimble evasion caused the ogre to crash into a tree. The young miko almost laughed at the thought of Inuyasha pulling such a cartoonish trick on a deadly foe.

Her amusement at the situation left her feeling relieved. Even though he was behaving differently, it seemed Inuyasha never lost his battle prowess.

Sango took notice of the slight change in Kagome's posture as the young miko relaxed a bit and lost some of the tenseness in her muscles. A bit confused at the change, but trusting in Kagome's judgement, the battle hardened demon slayer followed suit and allowed herself to relax as well.

They sat back and watched as the ogre finally made it's way up and turned to face Inuyasha. Anger was clearly etched on the creature's hideous face and hatred emanated from his gnarled features. Inuyasha remained completely unaffected, calmly and efficiently sitting in his battle stance poised to meet the ogre's next attack head on.

As the ogre stood there seething, a battle aura began flaring up from its gruesome figure. A few seconds later the beast's loathing scowl morphed into a dangerous smirk. With that the ogre began to charge towards Inuyasha.

Kagome tensed up a little as she saw the ogre once again take the offensive. Then her gaze returned to Inuyasha, and the impossible sight of Inuyasha cautiously, patiently and non-recklessly tending to battle relieved her once again, so she sat and waited to see how Inuyasha would finish a fight without resorting to his once favorite strategy of brute force.

The ogre drew nearer and Kagome kept waiting, expecting to see some clever and effortless movement from Inuyasha that would completely topple the ogre's blind fury. She detected the slightest movements from the hanyou just as the ogre drew within striking distance, and then finally Inuyasha swiftly drew his sword and performed a magnificent strike to the ogre that expressed a level of skill and mastery of swordsmanship that neither Kagome or her youkai hunter companion believed their half demon friend possessed.

But their awe soon turned to anguish as they saw the rest of the scene unfold before them. While Inuyasha's counterattack was beautifully executed and most certainly an uncontested finishing blow, the strike of Testusaiga tasted nothing but air instead of the ogre's flesh it was expecting to cleave.

Inuyasha lost his calm and composure, and then let out another yell as he felt a bone-crunching force strike him from behind. Struggling to maintain his balance in the tree, Inuyasha quickly turned around to see the ogre fade from his view as if it had vanished into thin air. His eyes widened in terror-filled realization just after another blow hit him from behind, dazing him and knocking him out of the tree.

The girl's watched in horror as they saw the ogre's teleportation trick in action. Seeing Inuyasha falling form brought forth an angonizing scream from Kagome, whose worry and concern for her friend instantly turned to hatred and anger for their enemy.

"Sango, let's go NOW!" Kagome ordered in a terrifying growl the likes of which the demon hunter had never heard escape from the kind-hearted girl's mouth. Seeing the look of hateful determination in Kagome's eyes brought a swift end to Sango's surprised staring, and she briefly nodded and ran into action with Kirara close behind.

'Let's take this ogre out, Kagome-chan! We'll make him pay!' she thought to herself. With that she loosed her Hiraikotsu, shouting its name as a battlecry.

The ogre finally noticed the new arrivals to the battle, and continued to smile arrogantly as he saw the approaching attack. He quickly teleported out of the path of the weapon and then back into the same spot once it passed, taunting the beautiful demonslayer by showing her how pointless her attack had been.

While the ogre was overconfidently directing his attention toward Sango, Kagome was all business. She let loose arrow after arrow, giving the distracted ogre no time to sense their approach and teleport out of their way.

The ogre winced in pain and nearly fell off of the tree branch he now resided on as one of the purifying arrows pierced his shoulder. He yanked the arrow out and the pain quickly subsided, and he began to laugh.

"Nice try little girl, but that was barely even a scratch! You have no chance against a Grand Ogre such as myself!" the beast gloated and laughed on. But what he hadn't noticed was that the second the arrow hit him, his battle aura had blinked out.

The ogre's battle senses picked up again, and he turned to the Hiraikotsu barreling through the trees on it's return course, heading straight for him. Arrogantly shirking off the "danger," the ogre stood up straight to meet the giant boomerang head on. As it drew closer, he closed his eyes and then triggered his teleportation trick...

...and nothing happened.

The ogre's eyes shot open just in time to see Hiraikotsu tear into his torso, cutting him in two. Then his eyes glazed over and he saw nothing as his life was brought to an end.

Sango caught her weapon and turned to congratulate Kagome on their victory, to find that the girl had already abandoned her position and sprinted over to Inuyasha.

Kagome approached Inuyasha, fearing the worst. 'Please, not again...Don't tell me something horrible has happened to him again...' Kagome was fighting back tears at the thought of Inuyasha being seriously injured again as she approached the spot where he had fallen.

Inuyasha was groggily coming to, rubbing his head after the shock of the blows he received and the fall he taken. He looked up to find Kagome standing next to him, and smiled a bit.

"Hey Kagome. What's up?"

Kagome was still and silent, not reacting to Inuyasha's calm and oblivious comment. Without a word she grasped Inuyasha in a tight embrace and smiled brightly.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she said.

At that, Inuyasha remembered what had happened, and tensed up. "The ogre! C'mon Kagome, it's dangerous here!" he said, standing up and helping Kagome to her feet. As he started leading Kagome to safety so he could go back and finish his fight, Kagome stopped him.

"It's okay, Inuyasha. We took care of it. The ogre's dead."

Inuyasha turned to the girl, surprised. "You killed it yourself?"

Kagome frowned a little. "Well, me and Sango. But yeah, I couldn't just let it get away with hurting you, Inuyasha. I was so worried..." She trailed off as tears began to take over and the fear started belatedly sinking in. She had been so focused and consumed with anger towards the monster that she hadn't even had time to be scared.

Inuyasha saw the distress on Kagome, and gave her arm an enouraging squeeze. "Thanks, Kagome." With that he flashed her one of his newly charming smiles, and Kagome looked up and returned it.

Where before, Inuyasha's pride would've made him grumpy and irritated at the thought of being rescued by someone else, now he was actually thanking Kagome for coming to his aid.

'I wonder if I'll ever get used to this Inuyasha...' Kagome thought as the two started making their way back to find Sango and Kirara.

They found the two poking around in the two halves of the ogre's corpse. Realizing that the couple had returned, Sango addressed them.

"Ah, there you two are! Are you alright, Inuyasha?" He nodded and smiled, and Sango mentally blushed a little. Quickly regaining her composure, she turned to Kagome and asked, "Now that you're here, Kagome, can you tell where the jewel shard is? I can't seem to find it just by looking."

Kagome nodded and began focusing on the ogre's corpse. While she could sense the presence of jewel shards with little effort, Kagome had to focus carefully to actually locate where they were.

Kagome stared at the corpse for a couple of minutes before she finally looked up with a confused expression furrowing her brows.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome turned to face him for a second, then turned completely away from the ogre's corpse.

"Kagome-chan? What is it?"

"I didn't see any jewel shards in the ogre, but I think I sense them in this direction..."

"What? You mean ogre didn't have a jewel shard? Then how did he do that teleportation thing?"

Before the conversation could continue any further, the group heard a commotion nearby, and a cloud of dust and leaves and the like started moving closer. From that direction a voice shouted out...

"Don't worry, Kagome, I'm here to save the day!"

A/N: And that's all for now! Whee! Who is that mysterious voice? It probably won't be too hard to figure out, but oh well. I just wrote the opening A/N a little while ago, but now that I've actually worked on writing the story some more, I think I feel a bit more psyched to work on it some more now that I'm back in the groove or whatever. So hopefully it won't take so long to get another chapter out. Thanks to anyone whose still reading or taking the time to read my sorry little story for the first time. I appreciate it! And y'know what else I appreciate? Comments/Reviews/Whatever we call them around here! (it's been so long I forgot OO) So yeah, please review if you're so inclined. Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9: Confrontation and Alliance

**Mister Niceguy**

A/N: Lots of new reviews and a few new reviewers this time around, and it made very happy to see that people are still reading even after how long I took with the last chapter. So..thanks to all who reviewed, and thanks to all for reading.

Oh, another thing. I spent a couple dead hours at work going back and proofreading all of the previous chapters and corrected a number of errors and problematic phrases. I'm sure there are still plenty more, but I fixed what I saw.

…I really need to work on cutting these author's notes down…They're really swelling my word count…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Inuyasha; it belongs to VIEWERS LIKE YOU!

…

Oh wait, no it doesn't. But the point is it don't belong to ME.

**Chapter 9: Confrontation and Alliance**

Shortly after the heroic announcement was made, the cloud halted its approach and the originating wind at its center it began to die down. The dust began to clear and the cause of the commotion was about to be revealed.

But Kagome didn't need to wait to see what lie beneath the storm of dirt and leaves to know who had arrived. Once she heard that voice things began to click into place. Mere seconds ago her Shikon detecting sense had determined that there were in fact TWO fragments of the jewel present, which was the final clue she needed to to realize what, or in this case who, had just arrived.

"Koga..." Kagome articulated, her voice betraying the slightest traces of exasperation. As of late the young miko had experienced a sense of dread and apprehension every time the leader of the Wolf Demon Tribe made an appearance. Sure, she considered Koga a friend and in the past had been happy to see him when he showed up. But lately the wolf's amorous advances had finally started to get old.

However, that wasn't really such a big deal. It wasn't all that much different than dealing with Hojo's awkward declarations of affection or her friends' endless meddling in her relationships back home. And despite how irritating their actions could be and how uncomfortable they sometimes made her, Kagome still considered all of them, even Hojo, to be some of her best friends.

No, it was something more than the wolf's infatuation with her that put a damper on his arrival. She wouldn't actually mind Koga's company, but since it meant she would have to suffer through his and Inuyasha's childish bickering and contest with Inuyasha's jealous streak, Kagome found herself halfway wishing that Koga wouldn't come visit at all.

Koga had picked up on Kagome's acknowledgment of his presence, although he was quite oblivious to her less than ecstatic disposition, and quickly moved to meet her.

"Kagome! I'm so happy to see you, too!" Already that nervous and forced grin that appeared on Kagome's face whenever Koga started proclaiming his undying love for her had surfaced. Still unaware of the girl's discomfort, Koga continued. "I was on my way to see you when I sensed the presence of a demon so I rushed over to save you! You have nothing to worry about now, Kagome. I'll protect you no matter what!"

With that said, the last traces of the dust cloud Koga's speed tornado had created subsided, revealing Sango, Kirara and Inuyasha, all coughing from inhaling the displaced dirt particles.

Koga took notice of Inuyasha and decided that he'd be the one to throw the the first punch in their feud today.

Kagome was about to reply to Koga's promise of protection when he spoke up again to launch his verbal assault against the hanyou.

"Yeah, forget about your troubles, Kagome. I can protect you a lot better than Muttface over there. With me around you have nothing to fear!"

A smug smirk crossed Koga's features as a wince and a small frown overtook Kagome's.

'Why does he always have to try to get Inuyasha riled up? Especially today when Inuyasha is...' Letting that thought trail off, Kagome released a sigh and tried again to talk to the wolf youkai.

"Koga," she began, but was cut off once more.

Inuyasha had quietly made his way over towards after the wolf prince had directed his assurances to Kagome to the silver haired half demon. Koga eyed him and asked, "Got a problem with that, mutt?"

Inuyasha ignored the comment and calmly greeted his rival. "Hello, Koga. What brings you here today?"

Koga frowned a little at his failure to get a rise out of Inuyasha. As such, he decided to take things a little further.

"Oh, nothing much. Just here to visit MY WOMAN and finish up the job you couldn't handle taking down the demon," Koga contemptuously explained.

Inuyasha's gaze hardened a little when he heard the words "MY WOMAN" escape Koga's lips, but they quickly returned to their calm appearance.

However, Kagome had noticed and felt a twinge of sympathy for her friend. She didn't think that Inuyasha was going to respond to that and she knew that with his new attitude the hanyou certainly didn't deserve Koga's hurtful taunting. Once again she began to speak.

"Koga, listen..."

Kagome's voice finally caught his attention this time, but it didn't last long. After a quick glance at the object of his affections, Koga turned back to indirectly address Inuyasha, by way of Kagome, yet again.

'I'm not getting any kind of response from him,' Koga observed with some degree of disappointment. 'I've left the demon alone long enough. I'll just let my actions put the half-breed to shame!'

"Yeah, so where'd the demon go, Kagome? Lemme at it!"

Kagome was finally starting to get angry from being ignored and the tone of her voice reflected that sentiment.

"Koga! Stop!"

That got his attention.

"You don't need to defend him, Kagome. You guys were fighting a youkai, weren't you?"

Kagome answered warily, "Yes, but..."

Koga cut her off for the umpteenth time. He turned to Inuyasha and continued, "And YOU didn't finish it off, did you Muttface?"

Inuyasha slowly shook his head.

Koga's smirk returned and he finished his oration. "See? So just forget about the **half-breed** and leave the youkai fighting to a **full-fledged** demon!"

"Stop it!"

Caught off guard by the startling cry, both Kagome and Koga could do nothing but blink in surprise. Koga was stunned at being chastised so forcefully while Kagome was shocked that someone else had beaten her to the punch.

Inuyasha was also taken aback and joined the others in turning to find the source of the protest.

Sango and Kirara had joined the rest of the group after abandoning their post next to the ogre's remains, which rested behind a nearby bush. No longer content to sit on the sidelines and watch Inuyasha take Koga's verbal abuse, the taijya was compelled to step in to Inuyasha's defense.

However, unbeknownst to anyone else, it was not without a fair amount of nervousness. 'What am I doing...?'

Koga was shocked. It was ever the rare occurrence for any of Inuyasha's friends, save Kagome, to get involved in one of their skirmishes. And on the off chance that they did make a comment it was always to sardonically point out Inuyasha's rude or jealous behavior. But now, the demon slayer, the one he had least expected to utter a grievance toward him, was passionately confronting him for his attitude toward the hanyou. It was a situation that left the wolf at a loss of how to respond.

'Why is she sticking up for him now? None of them have ever done that before…Except maybe Kagome…But it doesn't make any sense!' Koga tried to reason out an answer to the mystery to no avail. 'Whatever. I'm not gonna take that!' And with that thought on his mind and a scowl on his face, he opened his mouth to give the insolent girl a piece of his mind and demand to know where she got off talking back to him!

But it seemed that the lupine demon was due for a taste of payback. Just as he had constantly cut off his questionably claimed woman moments before, Sango proceeded to cut off his angry retort by continuing her tirade against the wolf's cutting remarks against her friend.

"You have no right to talk to Inuyasha like that! And who do you think you are saying you'll finish up the demon slaying task? The demon is already dead!" Sango yelled, ignoring the wealth of reluctant thoughts that were flooding her mind with questions of whether or not she should be coming to Inuyasha's aid so passionately. Ultimately concluding that she had every right to stand up for her friend she stood glaring at the Koga, awaiting his response.

However Koga's reaction wasn't quite what she expected. Instead of launching a scathing counterargument, his eyes widened and a confused expression appeared on his face. Sango reciprocated the action and some of her indignation waned in favor of befuddlement as well, but hers was the result of Koga exhibiting such a perplexed appearance in the first place.

'The demon is already dead? What! But Dog Crap over there said he didn't kill it! And the smell…This woman isn't making any sense!'

"What are you talking about, demonslayer? The Mutt said he didn't kill the youkai! What do you mean 'it's already dead?'

Sango's anger returned just as swiftly as it had faded. How _dare_ he say that she and Kagome couldn't take down a demon on their own! Sango was far too proud to let the Leader of the Wolf Demon Tribe make such a condescending remark.

"You arrogant jerk! Kagome and I finished off the demon ourselves!"

The blinding anger and indignation that had overtaken Sango cleared after she said those words, allowing her to realize that she might've said something out of place. 'Uh-oh. Inuyasha is way more proud than I am, and I just let his rival know that we had to finish off the demon ourselves. He's going to be angry…' Sango began to cringe at that thought, but stopped when she realized that that wasn't very likely anymore. 'Or worse; he was so worried that he had been the reason I was upset earlier…I've probably really hurt his feelings this time…' She warily turned to see how Inuyasha would respond to her outburst.

She wasn't alone in looking redirecting her attention to the half demon. Koga had turned as well, but not to watch for the hanyou's reaction. No, Koga's eyes had widened even more but this time it wasn't from being perplexed by at the situation. Sango's explanation had been enough to incite Koga's awful fury. And so before Inuyasha had any chance to say or do anything about Sango's disclosure of the battle's events, the wolf demon bit into the hanyou with another round of seething accusations.

"WHAT! You made Kagome fight your battles for you, you worthless half-breed! You let your utter WEAKNESS put Kagome in danger!" A red hue began to make its way across Koga's face as his anger rose.

A deafening crack interrupted Koga's furious tirade. Kagome, who had been standing next to the wolf the whole time, had slapped him. A red handprint akin to those her taijya friend left on a certain perverted monk stained Koga's cheek.

Slowly he turned to face Kagome again. His dazed expression met the outraged mask that covered Kagome's face.

"Kago—"

"Shut up!" she screamed. She wished that Inuyasha's necklace was around his neck right now so she could send him a few feet underground. "Just shut up Koga! Sango and I can take care of ourselves just fine! Inuyasha nearly DIED yesterday and still went out to fight in that condition! That's better than showing up too late to help and then wasting all his time arrogantly posturing and picking on others like a certain insensitive jerk I know!" Kagome glared at her suitor with almost hateful eyes.

Koga was too stunned to respond. Kagome had slapped him! And now she was looking at him with such malice…A look he'd never thought her capable of. A sickening feeling began to well up in his stomach as the hurt of Kagome's scolding set in.

'Why…' When he could stand her penetrating glare no longer, Koga hastily turned away, and his eyes made their way to Inuyasha again.

'Oh no, he's not going to look away from me when I'm talking to him!' Kagome began another round of yelling at the thoughtless wolf.

"Hey! Don't you—"

"Kagome, stop. It's okay."

Kagome looked at Inuyasha in surprise. It figured that the one time she was actually getting angry in his defense he would refuse.

Koga was just as surprised and listened intently as Inuyasha addressed him.

"You're right, Koga. I shouldn't have let this," he motioned towards his back, "get in the way of me protecting Kagome." A melancholy note distorted his voice and a somber expression muddled his face. Having his newly fragile feelings crushed by the overwhelming shame brought about by Koga's accusations led the half demon to avert his gaze from the others and stare despondently at the ground.

The others were quiet for a moment and looked thoughtfully at the half demon for a silent moment. Kagome and Sango had sad and sympathetic looks for their comrade, and Koga's brow was furrowed in a confusion that had been all too present during this visit.

'What is going on here…?' the Wolf Prince thought. With a wisdom uncommon to his feud with Inuyasha, Koga took some time to think about things before seizing the moment and launching another offensive against his rival.

'Muttface is definitely NOT acting like himself…And Kagome and the Taijya woman are waaaay too concerned for him. I've never seen them defend him like this before…And I've seen HIM just give up like that…' Koga took a moment to look at focus of his introspection again. Inuyasha was still standing there pathetically staring at the ground. Koga watched him hoping to find some explanation in the image before him, when suddenly the two girls invaded his vision as the approached Inuyasha from either side. As he watched them place their hands on his shoulders and begin dispensing encouraging and comforting words, Koga came to a decision for his next course of action.

'There's obviously something wrong with this picture, but it's pretty clear I'm not going to get anywhere with them treating him like that.' Kagome glanced at him briefly, and her gentle and soothing appearance immediately warped into a disgusted glare. Koga shifted uncomfortably at the sight, an action that seemed to notify Kagome that her message had been received, and the girl turned back to Inuyasha once again with no evidence of her bitterness remaining whatsoever.

Koga frowned a little and returned to his thoughts. 'And that erases any doubt. It looks like this is one time I need to make a tactical retreat.' With a troubled sigh he turned around to go. He took one step, then another and stopped to look back once again. He saw that the two girls were not acting in vain, as Inuyasha was slowly showing signs of cheering back up. Koga looked once more at Kagome, sadly fearing a defeat in his quest to make her his woman as a result of the crippling blow his presence that day had made. He took one last chance to utter a farewell.

"Inuyasha!" The half demon slowly turned to look at Koga. Biting back every angry thought in his mind, the Leader of the Wolf Demon Tribe continued, "Take care of Kagome." With that Koga quickly spun back around and sped off into the woods.

Hidden deep within the forest, far out of reach from Kaede's village was a small pond. The foliage was heavier in that part of the forest, allowing few rays of light to pierce down into the small clearing where the pond resided. The only trail leading to the secluded area was almost free of wear and amidst all of the tall grass it was all but indistinguishable unless one was actively searching for it.

And yet, one day a wandering monk had stumbled upon it. Having been searching for any signs of water in hopes of glancing a beautiful maiden or two bathing, the monk had conquered the efforts the pond had taken in hiding itself and discovered the peaceful sanctuary.

The disappointment the young monk felt upon realizing his quest for feminine splendor had proved fruitless waned much quicker that day, as the majesty of the pocket of the forest filled him with a peace and calm that prevented any ill feelings from befalling him.

And so, the monk claimed the spot as his own. It was special place for him; sometimes it served merely as a place to relax and enjoy the less human (and female) aspects of nature when he and his companions took a break from their travels. Other times it was a private haven for meditation that he could escape to on the rare occasions he'd become so encumbered with his sorrows that he needed time to himself. And every time he visited his spot the monk left in higher spirits.

But this day not even the soothing sanctum of solitude would prove to cleanse the monk of his dark feelings.

Miroku sat cross-legged in a meditative position on a fair sized rock that protruded from the middle of the pond. Usually it was his favorite place to think and clam himself, as he often found himself in a contemplative yet calm state when sitting there. This occasion, however, found the monk tense and stressed. While still obviously deep in thought, the monk's peaceful countenance was no where to be seen. He was hunched over on the rock, his brows creased sharply and his eyes aflame as he mulled over the thoughts that had plagued him for the hours he had resided in his secret refuge.

'Argh! Why does it prove so difficult to think of some way to put Inuyasha in his place!' Showing an ever-so-rare lack of self control Miroku threw his hands up and growled as these thoughts once again ran through his head. Over and over the perverted monk had tried to think on a way to get revenge on Inuyasha for what he had done. Usually, any such dark thoughts would have eventually faded as his mind wandered when his meditation was of a less noble nature. But every time they'd wander he'd think about his beloved goddess, the beauteous Sango. And this time, it was the object of his affections that was at the root of his ire toward his half demon friend.

Instead of taking the usual turn into pleasant yet scrupulous thoughts about the stunning demon slayer, Miroku would replay the scene of Inuyasha hugging her over and over, and his anger toward the hanyou would be renewed once more. At that point he would refocus on scheming for a way to confront Inuyasha, but blinded by his anger he would get no where, and then his mind would wander again and the cycle would repeat itself.

But finally Miroku had reached his breaking point and was outwardly expressing his frustration. After throwing a few pebbles into the pond and swinging his monk's staff at an invisible target, (Inuyasha, of course) the monk calmed down a bit and resettled himself on the rock to begin another round of fruitless scheming.

Just as he was easing back into his brooding, Miroku heard a sound. The sound was getting louder and louder, as if something was rapidly approaching his position.

'Could a youkai have found me?' Miroku thought as he got to his feet. The sound was still drawing ever nearer, so Miroku tightened his grip on his staff and leapt back to shore and charged out of the clearing to meet the intruder head on.

Seeing a calamitous swirl of motion tossing about dirt, leaves and all manners of uprooted vegetation, Miroku addressed the approaching storm with a confident yell.

"Show yourself!"

The commotion abruptly ceased revealing a figure at its center. Miroku eyebrow shot up at the sight of the being before him, and his guard dropped ever so slightly.

"Koga."

The wolf youkai said nothing, merely looked at him with a scowl on his face. Miroku could see that his newly arrived visitor was in a bad mood - a mood so bad that the monk subtly strengthened his grip on his staff again, unable to predict Koga's actions.

Koga remained silent for a while, trying to piece together why the monk before him had not been with the others. His mind still spinning from his encounter with Kagome and Inuyasha, Koga was unable to think clearly enough to reason up an answer, and decided to ask outright.

"Monk," he began. "Why aren't you with Inuyasha," he spat out the name with no small amount of distaste, "and the others?"

Miroku's eyes flared up with anger and he gritted his teeth. His knuckles became white with fury as he clenched his staff even tighter. Seething and almost trembling with rage, the monk provided no answer.

After another moment of silence, Miroku looked up to see Koga looking at him intently, evaluating his unexpected lack of response and the obvious if not vocalized anger that took its place.

Miroku finally replied, attempting to hide his present resentment for Inuyasha. "I required a reprieve from the companionship of the others so I might meditate in solitude."

'Yes, that seems like a decent enough excuse,' he praised himself.

Koga raised an eyebrow and drove the conversation on. "Good move, monk, 'cause if you're anything like me, the sight of Kagome and the demon slayer woman going ga-ga over Dog Crap back there would've made you sick to your stomach." As the last word left his mouth, Koga watched the monk carefully to see how he would react.

Miroku's eyes narrowed and his last ounces of restraint collapsed.

'Even now he steals my Sango away, all the while keeping Kagome wrapped around his finger, too!'

"That...BASTARD!" Miroku howled.

Koga jumped a little. The monk was loosing control and cursing aloud? And the curse was directed at Inuyasha? Not that he disagreed with the monk's words, but it was all so unexpected.

"Huh? Why are you so angry at the half breed? I thought you were his friend."

Miroku directed his attention to Koga once more and explained his plight. "That bastard Inuyasha has started to act kindly after his recovery from a near fatal demon attack. It was all well and good until I took notice of his true, fiendish motives…trying to steal my…" The monk caught himself a little too late, and hastily tried to cover it up, "Tried to take advantage of Sango while he's already courting Kagome."

Koga almost screamed. "WHAT!" Furious to no end, Koga tried to calm himself down as best he could so he could think things over. It all made sense now, the way the demon slayer had stood up for him, the way he didn't get angry at Koga's jibes, the way he had poisoned Kagome to hate him…

'He's acting all angelic now so he can keep Kagome under his spell! And she isn't enough…now he's going after the taijya, too!"

Koga focused on the monk again, and a new train of thoughts emerged. He began to think over why the monk was so angry about Inuyasha's scrupulous behavior. It didn't make sense seeing how the monk tried to be such a ladies man himself. Why should he care if Inuyasha is degrading both Kagome by going after Sango?

Then it hit him. The monk had revealed his true feelings in that little slip.

"The demon slayer is your woman, isn't she monk?"

Miroku was startled and looked uncomfortable. A sad expression appeared but quickly devolved into another livid scowl.

When Koga saw the signs of tears beginning to form in the monk's eyes, he knew he'd hit the nail on the head. Feeling a strange sympathy for the monk he said, "I'm sorry, monk."

Miroku was surprised that Koga had said that. "Did I really appear so weak that you felt the need to pity me?" he asked. Before Koga could respond he continued, "How am I ever going to get my revenge on Inuyasha for stealing Lad—**my** Sango away if I can't even contain my own self pity?"

Koga's ears picked up on that. "Revenge?" Yes, that sounded good. Revenge against Inuyasha. He couldn't do it on his own without making Kagome hate him, but the monk had always seemed intelligent enough. If he joined forces with him, surely they could find a way to put Inuyasha in his place.

"Monk," he said. "How're you going to get revenge on the Mutt?"

Miroku dejectedly replied, "Lady Kagome does not seem to be aware of Inuyasha's scheme. The key is to somehow expose him to Lady Kagome and free both her and Lady Sango from his clutches. But I have been unable to come up with any ideas thus far."

Koga let a small smirk cross his features. "Well then, monk. Perhaps two heads will prove to be better than one." He extended his arm.

Miroku looked at it questioningly, and then to the determined look in the wolf's eyes. Warily he moved his arm to meet Koga's, until their hands met.

With a quick but solid handshake, Miroku and Koga sealed their alliance to stop Inuyasha's sickening scheme.

Once again the measures the forest had taken to conceal Miroku's pond proved ineffective, as a form hiding in the tops of the tree ascended and flew away.

'Interesting…The monk and the wolf teaming up to take revenge on Inuyasha…And Inuyasha isn't himself? Yes, very interesting, indeed…'

**A/N:** Alright, finally finished. I was hoping I'd have this chapter out earlier, but oh well. I sat down and worked on this like 3 or 4 times, and it was kinda a tough chapter to write cause I didn't know exactly where I wanted to go with it at times. But now it's done and I'm halfway satisfied with it, and I think I know where I'll be taking the story in the future. I'm still trying to work on making my writing less repetitive and boring. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review :)


	10. Chapter 10: Determination and Last Hope

**Mister Niceguy**

A/N: 05/16/05 – Finally gave this chapter a new title...I hope it makes sense.

**Disclaimer:** I may not be Galvatron or Cyclonus, and Ms. Takahashi may not be Unicron, but this is the best disclaimer gag I could come up with so oh well...(Oh, and I guess the actual quote I'm parodying here doesn't belong to me either...)

This fic and all of it's moons belong to ME!

...But remember...Inuyasha belongs to her...

**Chapter 10: Determination and Last Hope**

Having successfully spied on the formation of the alliance against Inuyasha, the airborne figure reflected on what she had seen as she soared through the air.

"The monk and the wolf turning against Inuyasha is a very interesting development. I'm sure Naraku will find this information to be most advantageous..."

Kagura spat out the name of her master. Her thoughts turned from devious amusement at over the results of her espionage to unpleasant considerations of the implications of delivering a report of what she'd seen to Naraku.

'Knowing that Inuyasha is acting far too benevolent and using the monk and wolf's animosity toward the half demon to his advantage would almost certainly assure Naraku's victory against him.' Kagura smiled wickedly at the thought. There was no loss of love between her and Inuyasha's group and she would delight at seeing them all meet their demise. Her sour expression returned as her train of thought continued.

'But as miserable as it is, Inuyasha is the only one who has a chance of eventually killing Naraku. If I relay this information to Naraku and he uses it to kill Inuyasha I will never be free of his clutches!' The prospect of remaining under Naraku's control forever dampened Kagura's mood even further.

Bringing her flying feather to a stop, Kagura pondered on her dilemma. 'So should I withhold what I saw from Naraku? If he discovers I'm keeping this from him...' Kagura closed her eyes and shivered as a bitter memory surfaced in her mind. She remembered how she had been punished for conspiring to kill Naraku in an attempt to gain freedom from him. She briefly relived the days of pure agony, remembering the unshakable and unimaginable sensations of pain brought about by his brutal torture.

'No...' She thought as she opened her eyes again, 'I can't go through that again. But...if I don't risk it, I may never have a chance to escape!'

A strong gust of wind picked up causing her feather to resume its course. 'That settles it. I will risk everything to preserve my chance for freedom.'

Kagura willed her feather to pick up speed and headed back to face her master.

-

With that excitement of the youkai attack finally over, Inuyasha, Sango and Kagome worked to dispose of the ogre's corpse before heading back to the village. Inuyasha had been very quiet since their encounter with Koga. The girls had ceased their efforts to cheer up their friend after a series of half-hearted assurances from the half-demon. As they worked to bury the body, Sango spoke up.

"Something seems very odd to me."

Welcoming an end to the somber silence, Kagome asked, "Oh? What's up, Sango?"

Sango began to explain. "Well, Koga didn't seem to realize that the youkai was already dead until I kindly," Sango smirked briefly "informed him."

"Yeah, you're right. Koga can usually sense stuff like that about demons almost as good as Inuyasha can."

"And yet he couldn't sense that this demon was dead. I wonder why that is..."

Kagome shrugged as she pondered on it herself. Soon they were finished burying the ogre's corpse and they began their short trip back to the village. Walking away, they eliminated any chance that they would notice a particular segment of the ogre's armor.

Where most of the ogre's armor had been marred with nicks and smudges and blemishes as a results of battle, one segment maintained an unusually clear and reflective shine.

Overlooking that oddity, their walk proceeded without incident. The girls quickly dismissed the question of Koga's inability to sense the dead ogre, and they once again became occupied with Inuyasha. He was still being quiet and a sad and distant look still made its home on his face.

Troubled by Inuyasha's attitude, Kagome asked him, "Inuyasha? Are you okay?"

Inuyasha quickly replied, "Yeah, everything's fine." His tone of voice and the speediness of his response led Kagome to believe otherwise, so she prodded again.

"Are you sure, Inuyasha? Koga said some pretty horrible thins to and--" She stopped as Inuyasha turned to face her. His sad look had faded and a small smile but warm smile was left in its place. Kagome began to feel a blush coming on, but thankfully Inuyasha spoke up, distracting the involuntary response, preventing her cheeks from being graced with a red tint.

"Don't worry, Kagome. It's fine. I'm just thinking about some things. Thanks for thinking about me, but I'm really okay."

Kagome struggled to regain composure as she meekly nodded and smiled back. However, she wasn't quite as successful in keeping her blush back and quickly turned her head to the side to hide it.

But Inuyasha wouldn't have noticed anyway. As soon as Kagome nodded her acceptance that he was fine, Inuyasha returned to his state of deep thought.

Koga's words had caused a number of thoughts to stir in the hanyou's mind. Being called a half-breed brought back memories from his childhood, when he was constantly shunned and teased and abused by everyone but his mother. And with those thoughts came the bitter memory of how even his half-brother, Sesshomaru,hated him for his mixed heritage.

Inuyasha was confused by those thoughts. He didn't seem to remember ever thinking about them so openly...he never remember being on the brink of tears from remembering how hated he was before.

'I guess I was just a lot stronger before my injury. I must've been a lot better at dealing with these emotions.'

That brought another thing that Koga had said into focus – something that had hit him hard.

' "WHAT! You made Kagome fight your battles for you, you worthless half-breed! You let your utter WEAKNESS put Kagome in danger!" '

'Maybe he's right. A week ago I wouldn't have had any trouble taking down a measly youkai like that.'

Inuyasha frowned. 'I'm too soft now. I'm no use to anyone when I 'm this weak. I wish I had never...'

He let that thought trail off and befan to look around. He glanced at his companions. Kagome was walking a few steps behind him to his left, and Sango was holding a sleeping Kirara in her arms a few steps behind him to the right. He noticed that both of them were trying to conceal their looks of concern...concern he knew was being directed towards him.

He began to think about that. In the short time since his injury, he'd become much closer to his friends. No longer did he feel compelled to keep them at arms distance, and no longer did he feel the need to hide behind a mask of rudeness and arrogance when dealing with them.

'I don't know why I wasn't as close before, but that's one good that that came out of that injury...'

Inuyasha thought back to the past few days. Images of everyone there when he awoke, all relieved that he was okay. Of playing tag with Shippo, of comforting Sango, and of teaming up with Kagome to catch Shippo in Hide and Seek. He smiled at the new memories he'd made before returning to the somber thought of being too weak to defend the people he now realized he cared so deeply for.

Then he remembered something else, something Kagome had said when she and Sango had first tried to comfort him right after Koga had departed.

' "Don't let what he said get to you, Inuyasha. You're still recovering from your wound. After seing the way you were moving out there, there's no way you would've gotten knocked down like that if you'd've been feeling better!" '

It had been small comfort then, but Inuyasha wondered if her words held any truth. He remembered the pain from his healing wound flaring up up as the ogre's attack sent him plummeting to the ground. When he had thought about that before while talking with Kagome he was still unconvinced that he hadn't failed in his duty to protect them...failed to protect her. In doing so he'd almost missed Kagome marveling at his skillful movements during the fight, but now the faintest memories of her admiration of his battle prowess sprung up. He reached back and fingered his wound as he thought back on that, and a small tinge of pain surged through his body. Even so, his spirits began to brighten.

'Maybe Kagome's right. Maybe it was just because I'm injured and I haven't recovered completely yet. At any rate it means I just have to stop sulking and work on getting stronger.' He surprised the girls as he turned around and flashed them a big smile. Seeing that this one was sincere and that Inuyasha really seemed to have cheered up, they returned it with smiles of their own, happy that their friend was okay again. He turned back around as they approached the village.

'I'm glad that I changed like this...I'm not weaker...I'm stronger now because I'm closer to my friends!'

And with that last thought they reached Kaede's hut where they were met warmly by an excited Shippo and a welcoming Kaede.

-

Kagura walked into the heart of Naraku's lair to find him waiting for her with her sister Kanna at his side.

"So nice of you to join us, Kagura. Kanna has just shown me something very interesting."

Kagura raised an eyebrow and watched as Naraku nodded to Kanna. A series of images began to cycle in Kanna's mirror recounting Inuyasha's battle with the ogre, his confrontation with Koga and the girls trying to comfort the saddened hanyou. Kagura became a little nervous as she watched intently.

Once the images ceased, Kagura directed an inquiring expression towards her master. She tried to ignore the voice in her mind that screamed, "He knows!" and waited for Naraku to make the next move.

For what seemed like an eternity, Naraku said nothing, merely staring at her with a wicked smile on his lips. Every ounce of Kagura's willpower was being employed to keep her from expressing any fear or signs of deception as she fought back the urge to break under Naraku's scrutiny.

Finally Naraku broke the silence. "Isn't it interesting, Kagura? Inuyasha is acting most peculiarly...It seems that he is quite vulnerable right now, doesn't it?"

The sinister sound of Naraku's voice stung Kagura's ears, almost causing her to cringe. Narrowly maintaining control of herself, she answered. "Indeed, it would seem so. How did you come to obtain this information, Master?"

His smile grew wider as he pulled a small object out of fold of his robes. He produced a small shard of metal that gleamed with an impossibly bright reflective shine.

"This is a special metal. Its reflective surface allows Kanna to peer into what it sees by using her mirror. I recently sent an unwitting ogre armed with some of it to attack Inuyasha so I could spy on him. I've been working on distributing it around the region for some time now." The last part was a lie, but Kagura didn't know that.

Kagura's eyes widened ever so slightly, betraying her nervousness. 'With those scattered about, could Naraku already know about the monk and the wolf? Could he have seen me there as well?'

Naraku sensed his incarnation's discomfort and asked, "Do you have anything to add to this report, Kagura? Or should I see if Kanna can pick up anything else...?"

Kagura was facing an internal struggle: should she tell Naraku and throw away her only hope for freedom or risk him finding out about her plans and deceptions on his own.

'He knows something already, I can tell...Is he testing me...?'

Naraku, his malicious smile still ever-present, prodded once more. The amusement on his face was not reflected in his speech.

"Kagura! Speak now!"

The tone of his voice sent shivers throughout her body and for an instant memories of her past punishments flashed before her once again.

'He knows...and if I try to hide it...'

"Kagura!"

"Y-yes, Naraku. I was just about to report on this development...As well as on something more. Inuyasha's change of behavior had made the monk he travels with and the wolf he sometimes fights alongside jealous of the attention he is receiving from the females in his group. They are conspiring against him as a result."

Naraku, pleased that his intuition that Kagura was holding was had been correct and that his bluff had been successful, began pondering on this new information.

"Very interesting...I'm sure I can stir up some sort of excitement knowing this. Thank you, Kagura."

"...It is my pleasure to serve, Naraku." Kagura turned to leave.

"Oh, and Kagura," Naraku called out to her. She stopped and turned back to face him as his voice grew cold. "Do not forget what will happen if you should ever choose to hide something from me."

Kagura looked at the unforgiving glare in her master's eye, then spun around again and resumed her exit.

"Never, Master Naraku."

-

A/N: Another chapter...I've actually had it written for about a week, but I just now got it typed up. This chapter marks the entrance of our favorite evil bastard, Naraku. In other news, I've got the rest of the story basically mapped out and outlined, and I think it only gets better later on. But we'll see how things really turn out. Anyway, thanks for reading.


	11. Chapter 11: Miroku's Insidious Plot

**Mister Niceguy**

A/N: There's a new summary for the story…It's a little more verbose and yet a little more vague, and I hope it sounds better. Tell me what you think!

**Disclaimer:** I'm not feeling very creative today in the disclaimer department, but I still don't own Inuyasha and seeing how the title of this chapter is very heavily based off of one of the episode titles I prolly need to mention that, too...

**Chapter 11: Miroku's Insidious Plot**

Nightfall was rapidly approaching as Miroku made his way back to the village. He found himself in noticeably better spirits than when he had left hours before. Where he had trudged through the forest earlier that day, fuming and seething with anger permeating from every pore, now an emotion akin to peace and calm flowed through the cursed monk.

But his calm did not come from the soothing hands of the gods that his monk's training offered him. Instead, his good mood came from a source that stood almost as contrary to the enlightenment his vocation taught as night stands to day.

It was thoughts of almost sadistic self-satisfaction and anticipation for the plan of revenge against Inuyasha that he and Koga had devised that calmed the fury Miroku had experienced after discovering the half demon's treacherous schemes to steal his sweet Sango away from him...

Yes, it was the sin of jealousy and the thirst for revenge that had brought about a contented attitude to the lecherous monk. Forces that so greatly opposed to the teachings that Miroku held to were now the forces driving the monk. Year of devotion to the gods and the quest for enlightenment that such a path promised were thrown away in an instant when Miroku saw Inuyasha and Sango in that friendly embrace.

Of course it didn't seem friendly to him. Oh no, what he saw was that scheming hanyou showing that his new cheery attitude had really just been a ruse so he could take advantage of Sango, HIS Sango... And of course, the monk needed to find some way to expose Inuyasha's dastardly plot and rescue the beauteous Sango from his hold so she would jump into his arms as he served the cold dish of justice to their backstabbing companion.

'Yes, it is for justice and the benefit of Lady Sango that I carry out this little ploy,' Miroku told himself. 'And although it will be a great pain to realize, I'm sure that Lady Kagome will see Inuyasha for the cretin he really is and she, too, can be free of his womanizing ways.'

Soon Miroku finished with his uncontested rationalizations of his scheme against Inuyasha and his reflections on what was in his mind his noble role as an enemy of depravity and a defender of womens' honor and he began to go over the plan in his head once more.

'First I must behave as if nothing is bothering me to avoid arousing suspicion,' he recalled. In the middle the monk and his co-conspirator's brainstorming, Koga had become irritated with the monk's edgy attitude and let it show.

_"First off, _monk_," he said, the annoyance terribly evident in the way he spoke. "We're not going to get anywhere if you keep acting so pissy and whiny around the others. If you go around like that they're gonna smell something's up from across the village and then we'll have no chance to give that filthy mutt what he deserves."_

Miroku had been angry about Koga telling him off, but somehow he'd managed to muster up the discipline to fight back his indignation and see the logic in the wolf's words. And so the first step of the plan was for Miroku to act casual.

'Yes, and once I assure everyone that my outburst today has been dealt with and that everything is fine, I move on to the next phase of the plan.'

Miroku's thoughts once again returned to his conference with Koga.

_"Right now Muttface has got your demonslayer woman and Kagome wrapped around his finger. If we try to do anything to him we'll just be stabbing ourselves in the foot because they'll end up hating us for it." Koga's expression became grim as he remembered the enraged looks Kagome had shot at him when he had verbally attacked his rival._

_"Then our next priority should be to break free the Ladies Sango and Kagome from Inuyasha's evil spell so they can see him for the cur he really is. Once they realize that he is manipulating them they will be all too happy to see us act against him." Miroku had managed to offer his suggestion with a fair amount of calmness._

_Koga again become exasperated. Miroku hadn't offered anything new or useful to the plan and the wolf was getting tired of not getting anywhere._

_"Yes, but we already knew that, didn't we? The question is how, monk!"_

_Miroku's newly-returned composure was beginning to grate on Koga's nerves. The monk gently rubbed his chin with an expression of concentration lightly muddling his features. A few moments passed like this, the two once again silently brainstorming._

_ It was Miroku who broke the silence._

_"Tell me, Koga. When you encountered Inuyasha and the girls earlier, did it seem to you that Lady Kagome was aware of anything going on between Inuyasha and Lady Sango?"_

_Koga thought for a second and answered. "I don't think so. Why?"_

_Miroku was fighting back the surge of angry emotions that re-ignited when he thought of Inuyasha and Sango. He was however successful in maintaining an outwardly calm appearance despite his internal turmoil and continued relating his thoughts to Koga._

_"It seems that if Kagome saw the two in a," Miroku twitched slightly as the next words began to flow from his mouth, "compromising situation, such as the one I…" Miroku began to feel his control fading as those thoughts surfaced, so he let that line of thought trail off. He resumed, "If Lady Kagome were to see something like that, surely that would be enough to remove Inuyasha from her good graces. And if all goes in our favor, the repercussions of the Lady Kagome's well-placed righteous anger will convince Lady Sango of Inuyasha's villainous intent. So, all we must do is wait for such a situation to arise and be ready to sweep in and take advantage of it."_

_Koga was thinking over Miroku's plan with approval, but decided that it needed some small improvements._

_"That's good, monk, but who knows how long it'll take for that kind of situation to occur on its own? Besides, I can't hover around you guys forever waiting for it to happen."_

_Miroku frowned a little. "Then what do you suggest?"_

_A malevolent smirk landed on Koga's lips. "You, monk, need to make sure a situation like that takes place and that Kagome sees it. And make it quick-- sometime in the next few days."_

_Miroku nodded. Inuyasha would be unaware that the monk was on to him, so it wouldn't be difficult to subtly arrange something._

Again, Miroku broke free of his recollection of the events of some hours before. The village was in sight now and he was a few brief moments away from reaching Kaede's hut. He quickly thought over the final stage of the plan as he took the last steps of his journey.

_Once Miroku had nodded his assent to the plan, Koga took over and keyed him in on the last part._

_"Alright, so I'll be hanging around while you take care of things from your end. Once the girls stop going ga-ga over Inuyasha, I'll step in and help pummel him." Koga was smiling at the thought of finally ending his feud with the half demon in a decisive fight._

_"But Kagome will be able to sense your presence." Koga gave him a confused look, and the monk pointed towards the wolf's legs. "Lady Kagome can sense your Shikon Jewel shards, remember?"_

_Koga looked down at his legs thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged indifferently._

_"No problem. I can take on the mutt without these just as easily as I can with." With that he plucked the jewels from his legs and hid them under a rock in their hidden clearing._

_"Very well. Now it is time to put the plan into action," Miroku said as he stood up. He brushed off some dirt from his robes and picked up his staff. "I shall be on my way now."_

_Koga nodded and watched the monk walk away._

'And that was it,' Miroku thought just as he stepped up to the door of Kaede's hut. He stood there for a moment and finally took a deep breath. 'It's time.'

He pushed the curtain that served as the door aside and entered.

The others were just sitting down for dinner, and they all looked up as he entered the room. Miroku put forth a convincing smile, and the others returned it back.

Inuyasha offered a bowl of stew to the monk and cheerily asked, "Hey Miroku! I see that whatever was bothering you earlier has been taken care of, huh?"

Miroku was tempted to break down and express his fury on the hanyou right then and there. How dare he act so friendly to him!

But he employed every calming technique he knew and managed to keep control.

"Oh yes, Inuyasha." He took the stew and smiled a smile shimmering with a sinister gleam that went unnoticed by the others. "Everything has been well taken care of."

--

Koga had decided to stay the night in Miroku's clearing. The monk wasn't going to start stirring anything up until tomorrow at the earliest, so he decided to rest up tonight before things started getting hairy.

As the wolf slept soundly, a shadowed figure stealthily crept into the clearing. It had no trouble locating the treasure hidden in the clearing as it stalked directly to the rock, under which were hidden Koga's sacred jewel shards. It immediately removed the rock and snatched the shining fragments.

As the pink gems touched the shadowy hand their glowing luster was marred by a malicious darkness. A black hue concealed their formerly bright nature.

"Hey! Drop those NOW!"

The intruder turned to find the wolf awake and angry. After a brief moment of tense silence the figure began to slowly advance towards Koga.

"Oh, you're in for it now, pal!" Koga began to charge at the thief with one arm shooting back into a position ready to launch a punch.

And in an second Koga was in front of him. Even at that range the figure was shrouded in shadows and the wolf could not distinguish any of its features past its outline. However, what the figure looked like made little difference to Koga, as the instant he was in range he began his fluid attack pattern: he threw a devastating punch straight to where he thought the figures sternum was, followed through with a crushing roundhouse kick to its approximate ribcage and finished it all up with a monstrous back thrust kick with his other leg that made contact with the figure's supposed jaw.

Koga speedily snapped back and swung himself into another fighting stance. In the midst of the combination he had briefly taken his eyes off of his opponent and was a little slow to regain focus on his opponent. Confident in his abilities, the Wolf Prince expected his offensive to have finished the thief off. But upon facing it he saw that figure was standing completely still in the same position as before the attack, completely unfazed.

"WHAT!" was the only word Koga could get out before his enemy launched its counteroffensive.

The figure moved forward at a speed so great that it appeared as nothing more than a dark streak. It planted an appendage into Koga's gut with a behemoth force that instantly rendered him unconscious. Before the wolf's crumpled form could slink to the ground, the figure clutched his face in his left palm and lifted him up so that Koga's chest met with what was apparently the shadowed form's eye level.

Even though Koga was unconscious and there was no one left to listen, the mysterious intruder chose that moment to finally speak.

"A weak effort, wolf. Even with these," it began, opening its other palm to reveal the newly corrupted jewel shards, "you wouldn't have stood a chance against me. And yet you tried to fight me without them! What an arrogant little fool you are!"

Slowly the figure began moving its left hand forward towards Koga's chest. A dark demonic aura began to flicker around its hand and the jewel shards augmented it with their perverted sacred powers.

"But worry not, little wolf. I have a use for you." Its hand finally met Koga's chest, pressing the jewel shards against his armored chest plate. They began to phase through his shiny black shell to become embedded in the flesh underneath.

"These jewel shards will force you to act according to my bidding. I will be your master, I will control you and I will be in command." Its left hand, still pressed against the wolf's chest, began to glow brighter as a blinding red light of energy began to intrude on the darkened forest, and a surge of energy crackled and engulfed the unconscious Koga.

When the lights were over the figure dropped the Wolf Prince to the ground. Quickly Koga started to stir and a moment later he awoke. He returned to his feet, no signs of the injury he sustained evident whatsoever.

He looked up and stared at the figure before him. The effects of the light that had emerged a moment ago had lifted away whatever enchantment had prevented him from identifying the shadowed being. The figure before him was all too familiar, but Koga just stood there, merely staring, no angered response rising and no questions coming to his lips.

The figure, now revealed to be a man, addressed the silent wolf youkai.

"You belong to me now. Do you understand?"

Koga's eyes began to glow red, a small fraction that same red that had engulfed the clearing a few moments before. With that, he bowed to the man, and spoke a small acknowledgement.

"Yes, Master Naraku."

--

A/N: Alright, finally got a new chapter up. HOPEFULLY it won't take so long now that school's over, but I'm not gonna make any promises cause I still have periodic writer's block to contend with. But it gets slow at work, so I can work on it there if I can keep myself from forgetting my notes. I'm not sure if this chapter works very well stylistically, but oh well. Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing...and um...yeah, review some more.


	12. Chapter 12: Backfire

**Mister Niceguy**

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Inuyasha, simple as that.

**Chapter 12: Backfire**

Dinner had passed hours ago for our hours and the calming cloak of night had long since swallowed up the village. The denizens of the small community were by and large committed to their restful slumber and the occupants of the chief priestess' hut were no exception. The elderly miko lay on her modest futon at the far end of the room, and throughout the rest of the hut were sprawled her youthful companions.

Kagome slept snugly tucked within her red sleeping bag, with a contented Shippo nuzzled soundly next to her. Sango, unused to the more lavish comforts of those not trained in the harsh combative arts of demonslaying, slept on the bare floor. No pillow, no blanket…the only extra warmth she had was what her feline companion, curled up next to her abdomen, provided. Even Miroku, despite constantly contending with bouts of internal rage, had managed to find solace in the hands of sleep, leaning against a wall close to the door.

Some hours into the night the demonslayer began to stir. Something had driven her from her sleep and persisted to the extent of making a return to dreamland impossible. Upon realizing that such efforts would be fruitless, Sango gave up trying to go back to sleep and shifted to lay on her back and stare at the hut's ceiling. Immediately she began to lose herself in her thoughts as she gently petted her sleeping Kirara.

Her thoughts cycled through the various and diverse events that had filled the eventful day. She had struggled with a fit of depression, but was later rescued from it by Inuyasha's companionship. She'd helped Kagome slay a youkai, playing a part in the rare role of being the hanyou's savior. And she'd stood up against Kouga when he had kicked her dog-eared friend while he was down, having experienced an unusual sympathy and concern for Inuyasha's feelings.

The various events quickly played in her mind with little notice save for one factor that was common to all of them: Inuyasha. Today had been very strange for the taijya, and that strangeness had all originated from him.

Sango had been bombarded by a blitzkrieg of new and unexpected feeling about the half-demon in the past twenty-four hours. Before, she had always known that he was really a kind-hearted person under his crude exterior, as evidenced by his unique and indirect expressions of his compassion; he always seemed to understand how she felt about the situation with Kohaku, and even if he didn't always show it she knew he sympathized with the pain it brought her. He'd even gone so far as to forgive and ignore her initial misguided attempts to kill him and accepted her as a friend and ally and member of the team.

Yes, she'd always viewed Inuyasha as a true friend, but the day's events and the new feelings that resulted from them had led her to feel a troubling confusion in regards to her relationship with her silver-haired ally.

When the sight of the scar on Inuyasha's back, left by the wound that was ultimately the source of ALL of the odd occurrences of the past few days, had reminded Sango of her suffering and spellbound brother and loosed an almost crippling wave of depression upon Sango, Inuyasha had been the only one able to comfort her. It seemed to her that his new attitude had gifted him with a sense of empathy that surpassed even Kagome's.

He'd spoken to her, and reassured they would all make Naraku pay for his crimes against her and her brother, and Sango had felt better. And then he had embraced her…hugged her…THAT was where the confusion had all truly begun.

Affection was one skill that training in the secluded taijya village hadn't prepared her for. Being so devoted to her duties had left any relations with boys solely one sided, as Sango obliviousness to Kuranosuke's infatuation with her had proved. She had only ever been truly comfortable being close with her family, and hugs were something that still felt out of place when delivered by anybody else.

And then Inuyasha had captured her in a very heartfelt embrace. It had been unexpected and almost nerve-wracking, and the flux of jumbled emotions was almost unbearable. But after the initial shock had hit, Sango began to realize that it felt good…Talking with Inuyasha had helped to ease her grief and misery, and it seemed that the hug had taken it one step further. His encouraging words had told her that he cared, and his hug had _shown_ it to her.

After that little episode, she'd felt happier than she had in quite some time. And…it was all because of Inuyasha…?

Sango tossed and turned a little to try to shake the thought from her mind, but once she'd resettled herself she found that she could not escape that thought.

'Do I have…feelings…for Inuyasha?'

It was certainly beginning to seem that way. The way she'd worried when she thought he was in danger and the way she so forcefully defended him against unwarranted slander….

Then it finally hit.

'I…do…I do have feelings for him.'

Even though everyone else was asleep, Sango turned around to face the wall in an effort to hide the blush that had crept across her cheeks.

The notion of liking Inuyasha was beginning to set in.

'It's not that outlandish, is it? He's kind and caring now…' She almost jumped on the idea that it was just his new attitude that had resulted in a little crush for him, but quickly found that she couldn't accept that. 'He's…always been caring, he just hasn't always been so open about it. He always puts his friends first, doing everything he can to protect us. And…now that I think about it…he is pretty handsome…'

Sango's blush grew deeper, and she shook her head to try to drive those thoughts away. In doing so, her gaze briefly fell upon Miroku, and her thoughts took another turn.

'But…what about Miroku? Don't I have feelings for him, too?' She started to think on that. Miroku was usually perverted with his constant groping. She'd always been angered and embarrassed by that, but it had never paralyzed her like Inuyasha's hug. Was that because she knew Miroku was being perverted and she should be angry with him, or was she actually more comfortable being touched, even if in such an obscene way, by him?

'No, that can't be it. Nobody likes being groped and treated like piece of meat,' she insisted to herself.

But, what about all of the times when he was actually charming to her? When worse came to worst he'd put her safety above his own. He'd actually shared the feelings he bottled up inside (the less base and primal ones, that is) with her on occasion…Feelings about the torment his curse brought him and how impending death loomed over him every day…Feelings he'd shared only with her…

'Miroku…'

But then, every time, he'd do something to ruin the moment. Another inappropriate touch, another perverted comment.

'But…maybe he just has trouble with those feelings just like I do…All of those other women don't get him worked up, but maybe…could I…be different in his eyes?'

She pondered on that for awhile, until her thoughts returned to something else that had happened earlier that day.

After the game of Hide and Seek, when she'd returned to the hut with the others in a bright and cheery mood, she'd tried to offer Miroku a friendly greeting. But he'd completely ignored her—not even a lewd remark or outlandish line professing his love for her beauteous body.

'Maybe…he might've felt something for me…But even so, now he's ignoring me and even stopping his "charming" advances…No, what was I thinking? Miroku doesn't have any feelings for me.' A twang of sadness formed as she articulated that thought. When she sensed it, though, she swiftly tried to usher it away. 'Hmpf, whatever. What do I care? Why should I want a pervert to have feelings for me?'

With that she sat up and glanced around the room, and realized something was amiss. It took her a few seconds, but then she realized…

'Hey…where's Inuyasha?'

Usually she never thought twice about his absence at night, especially when they were at Kaede's. It usually meant he was lounging about in a tree, mulling over whatever was on his mind alone. But her new revelations and acceptance (or the beginnings of it, anyway) of her feelings toward Inuyasha led her to get up and search him out.

Moving carefully to avoid disturbing Kirara, she stood up. With a meticulous stealthiness she quietly padded to the door so she would not disturb the others. She gently pulled back the curtain on the door and stepped outside in search of the absent hanyou.

--

Despite her efforts, Sango's exit had not gone unnoticed. She moved about in perfect silence that would prevent any sleeping person from stirring, but that does little to help against one who is already awake.

Much in the same way that Sango was randomly forced from her slumber, Miroku, too, had woke up during the night. It was by chance that his slumber ceased just as Sango was making her exit, sparking the monk's curiosity.

'What could my dear Sango be doing leaving the hut at such an hour?' he thought.

Given his recent mood, Miroku was suspicious of any odd behavior. As such, he decided to follow his beloved and find out what was up. Taking the same amount of care to remain silent that Sango had, the monk quietly slipped out of the hut unnoticed, then proceeded to stalk about in secret pursuit of his highly adored demonslayer.

--

Sango walked through the forest for sometime in her search for Inuyasha. She squinted in the dark as she scanned the treetops, expecting to find the hanyou who had found his way into her thoughts sitting and brooding on a branch high above ground as he had been known to do on many occasions. About fifteen minutes had passed and Sango had experienced little success in locating her silver-haired crush. A little frustrated, she stopped for a moment to let out a sigh.

'Where could Inuyasha be?'

As that thought passed through her mind, a faint sound reached Sango's ears. Too faint to make out, she strained in every attempt to identify the intruding noise.

'What IS that?' she wondered. Her curiosity piqued, Sango started walking in the direction the sound was emanating from.

As she moved closer the sound became more defined.

'It sounds like somebody's yelling,' she thought as she began to make sense of the racket. Short bursts of noise would sound every few seconds or so, but at random; there wasn't any pattern to them.

'What is going on?' She continued walking closer until she reached a wall of shrubbery. The yelling was very distinct and clear at that point, and Sango listened intently, trying to interpret its meaning.

'Those yells…they're obviously kee-yahs…Battlecries…' A sense of understanding dawned on the taijya. 'Somebody must be fighting…Somebody might be in trouble!'

Without another thought Sango rushed to charge into battle. Her father had always taught her to never be caught off guard and to always have a weapon with her at all times. And while she had left Hiraikotsu back at the hut, Sango pulled her katana out from a hidden spot in her skirt where it always rested, somehow, along with the rest of her demonslayer gear. Armed and ready to render assistance to the faceless fighter she slipped through a hole in the shrubs and unleashed a battlecry of her own.

Surprise was the theme of the hour in the clearing she found herself in. A quick and precise visual sweep of the area revealed no threat; no injured villagers in peril and no vicious demons wreaking havoc. The only being there was the one she had been looking for in the first place: Inuyasha.

Sango's terrifying howl of combat had surprised him and drew his attention to her. He stood a little dumfounded, looking at her with a wide-eyed sense of surprise. They stood silent and frozen in place for a moment, Inuyasha with his expression of confusion and Sango in a battle stance with a rapidly growing blush overtaking her features as the embarrassment of the situation sunk in.

"Um…hi Sango…Erm…whatcha doing there?" Inuyasha asked. The question only served to deepen the embarrassment she was feeling and Sango relaxed her tensed muscles as she dropped her head.

After a long moment of staring at the ground in humiliation she quietly answered. "I…I thought somebody was being attacked or something and came to help…"

Inuyasha smiled a little and walked over to her. "Oh, I see. In that case your charging in here and yelling and scaring the pants outta me makes a lot more sense."

Sango couldn't help but to smile a little herself as she looked up in response to Inuyasha encouragingly placing his arm on her shoulder. The blush was still there and she was still really embarrassed, but Inuyasha's attempts to make her feel more at ease about the situation were helping.

"T—thanks, Inuyasha."

After vocalizing her appreciation for his understanding in that most embarrassing situation, Sango started thinking. She'd established that there was no enemy to face and identified the mystery sound, and in doing so she'd stumbled upon Inuyasha as well. But…what was Inuyasha doing out here in the first place? She looked at him in search of some kind of clue and noticed he was holding his untransformed Testusaiga. A bit confused, Sango looked up from the sword to his face to ask a question…

"So, what exactly are you doing out here at this time of night?'

…but was beaten to the punch. Inuyasha asked her the same question that was on the tip of her tongue and she felt a little put on the spot when it was directed towards her.

"Uh…well…Actually I couldn't sleep and noticed that you weren't around and, well…I came out to look for you to make sure everything was okay."

'Ugh, that probably sounded really WEIRD and CREEPY...God, I might as well have just gone out and told him "Gee Inuyasha, I think I have feelings for you and just wanted to come STALK you because I can't stop thinking of you…"' She was tempted to keep thinking like that and continue mentally kicking herself, but thought better of it and decided to take action to hide her NEW embarrassment.

"So…what were YOU doing out here at this time of night?" she asked. Inuyasha, who was oblivious to Sango's nervous thoughts, answered with a great deal more calm than she had. He moved the arm that he was holding on to Tetsusaiga with to bring attention to it.

"Well, I was out here practicing some sword techniques."

Sango was visibly surprised. Inuyasha…_training_? Well, that thought in itself wasn't too outlandish, she reasoned, but the only times she'd ever seen Inuyasha train in swordsmanship was when some new obstacle made it absolutely necessary, like when Tetsusaiga had become almost impossible to wield after it had to be tempered using one of Inuyasha's own fangs. And even then it hadn't been swordsmanship training so much as it had been training to get used to the swords newly augmented weight.

And yet here he was saying that he'd been practicing some sword techniques. Testusaiga was even in its nicked and dull untransformed state instead of its massive enchanted form, convincing Sango that precision and technique had been the focus over Inuyasha's concentration on brute power.

"Practicing? I don't think I've ever seen you practice swordfighting before."

Inuyasha smiled again and continued to explain.

"Well, earlier today Kagome was saying something about how impressed she was with how I was handling myself and my sword when I was fighting with that ogre…How I was a lot more focused."

Sango thought back to that fight. 'That's right…he did seem a lot more focused and careful than he usually is…'

Inuyasha went on.

"Well, it got me to thinking…It'd probably be good if I worked on my form and technique a little instead of just throwing my big heavy sword around like a giant club. I figure it'll help me protect everyone better if I put some more effort into it."

Sango blinked and felt her jaw drop. 'After all that's happened in the past couple of days you'd think that this wouldn't surprise me.'

Inuyasha playfully pouted, "What? Is it so unbelievable?"

Sango quickly tried to compose herself and find something to say. 'Well, yeah, actually it kinda is…' she thought, but unaware of the lack of seriousness behind Inuyasha's question she decided not to voice that particular response.

"No, no, not unbelievable just a little…unexpected." She didn't think she sounded very convincing, so she decided to shift gears a little bit. "Um…how bout you show me how you're doing so far? I'm sure your practice has been paying off."

Inuyasha was amused by Sango's attempts to protect his feelings in response to his deceptive show of disappointment. He smiled and nodded and stepped back a few steps, then knitted his brow in concentration as he settled into a fighting stance.

He held his sword in a secure grip with both hands, and after a few seconds of silence and stillness, he cried out and began making a flurry of swift motions with his sword against an imaginary target.

Sango watched on with a smile on her face, a smile that became more and more forced as the hanyou's display went on. As impressed as she was that Inuyasha was taking the time and initiative to practice his technique, her earlier assessment that it was doing him good was proved incorrect as she actually observed him in action.

She fought back the urge to cringe at some of Inuyasha's moves. While they exhibited a level of skill absent in most of their prior battles, which had always been compensated before by his brute strength and force of will, Inuyasha's motions were for the most part sloppy and amateurish, and if she hadn't been so concerned with how he would react, she probably would've either laughed or cried.

When he finished fending off his imaginary sparring partner, he looked up to her, panting a little from exertion but bright-eyed and eager for encouragement. He looked like a little kid who had just finished teaching himself how to jump rope or ride a bike or tie his shoes and wanted to show his mom his proud accomplishment.

So when he asked, "So, whaddaya think?" Sango didn't have the heart to tell him how awful that had been. But she didn't want to lie, either, so she came up with something else…

"Um…well, how about I help you train, Inuyasha?"

"Huh? You'll help me train?"

"Sure!" she smiled and raised up her katana. "I was trained by some of the best back in my village, and even if I do prefer Hiraikotsu most of the time, I am pretty skilled in kenjutsu, if I do say so myself." With that she turned, unsheathed her sword and performed a masterful kata, then calmly resheathed her sword and turned back to look at Inuyasha and asked, "So, how about it? Want me to give you a few pointers?"

Inuyasha was impressed by her show of skill and happily agreed. "You bet!"

Sango smiled as she motioned for them to get started.

'Well…this is an interesting development…Me helping Inuyasha practice swordplay…And it lets me spend time alone with him to boot…' With that thought she began to blush.

"So, what do you want me to do, Sango?"

She jumped a little as she was brought out of her infatuated reverie. She quickly shook away those thoughts and shuffled him into a fighting stance, then settled in to one of her own.

"Okay now, watch what I do and then try to do the same thing yourself…" she said as the lesson began…

--

Miroku wasn't having such a pleasant time. He'd managed to keep track of Sango for a little while, but after what he thought was a close call that required him to duck and cover to avoid detection, he'd lost sight of his prey and found himself stumbling around in the dark for any sign of his Sango.

And since Sango had encountered Inuyasha already, he was left without the series of yells to lead him to his target. So he kept trudging along, looking for any sign of the demonslayer, but failing to look where he was going. So he managed to trip a number of times, and after about an hour in the forest he had quite a collection of scrapes on his body and a fair amount of dirt and leaves clinging to his robes.

The light rumble of yelling began to sound in the forest again, and Miroku managed to pick up on it. Like Sango had done some time before, Miroku decided to follow it to find out where it was coming from.

Eventually he found himself at the same wall of shrubbery hiding the clearing. He heard the two sets of yells sporadically sounding off from the other side, and recognized them as belonging to his dear Sango and the accursed Inuyasha.

He cautiously and quietly parted a small hole in the bushes to spy through and was quickly infuriated with what he saw.

Sango had just finished demonstrating a sword cut to Inuyasha and was standing behind him to observe and coach him. He had attempted the somewhat complex strike but lost his balance and tripped, falling backwards and toppling over Sango in the process. The result was Inuyasha and Sango flat on the ground in a heap, laughing good-naturedly at the situation.

But Miroku didn't find the situation particularly amusing. Of course, he didn't perceive the situation as being what it really was. In his eyes, Inuyasha was making his move on Sango, going so far as pouncing on her and giving way to his sick desires.

'He's got her so under his spell that he's just jumping right to it!' He almost lost control and jumped in to rescue his bewitched demonslayer when they stood up and resumed whatever activity they were engaged in before the fall.

Miroku took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

'I need to maintain control,' he told himself. 'This is a most opportune development. It seems I'll be able to put the plan into action earlier than expected.'

He stood up and started making his way back to the hut. 'I'll go fetch Kagome and show her what distasteful antics that _half-breed_ is up to and then Kouga and I will…' Miroku kept moving but became troubled by something. How would he contact Kouga? Surely the wolf wouldn't have expected the plan to be put into effect so soon, and surely he hadn't begun following him yet. How would Kouga know?

Suddenly, a rustling in the trees caught the monk's attention. He swirled around into the direction of the sound and placed his left hand on the beads wrapped around his right, ready to defend himself by means of his Wind Tunnel should the sound be caused by something hostile.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" he shouted, far enough away from the shrouded clearing to be unconcerned with alerting Inuyasha and Sango.

The rustling started up again and Miroku clenched the beads holding back his Wind Tunnel a little tighter as a something dropped from the trees to the ground in front of him.

Miroku squinted and saw that it was Kouga, and began to relax.

"Sheesh, monk, don't get so worked up. It's just me."

Miroku noticed something odd about the wolf, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. In reality, Kouga was acting rather subdued…or empty. He was saying all the right things, but without the usual energy behind them. Not that he didn't have any energy, as his quick drop from the trees showed, but it was a very different force behind his actions, a force brought about by Naraku's tampering, and a force that would be unreadable to anyone who fought him. In battle he would be like a rag doll, looking harmless and sedentary, suddenly animated with an insane exuberance and lust for battle.

But for now, he was hiding that bloodthirst and Naraku's control was doing its best to mimic the wolf's behavior and speech despite the lack of Kouga's essence driving them.

And apparently it was enough to fool Miroku. The monk sensed that something was off, but unable to identify what, specifically, he shrugged it off and treated Kouga normally.

"It is quite fortuitous that you showed up just now. I need to tell you that the plan is ready to be put in to play now. I'm on my way to get Kagome and bring her back to see Inuyasha seduce Lady Sango, so you'll need to be there if you want to help cut him down to size afterwards."

Kouga nodded and smirked. The smirk was far more sinister and malevolent than anything Miroku had ever seen from the wolf before, but aside from feeling a little more unnerved by it than usual he thought nothing of it.

"Good. I'll be close by and I'll step in when the time is right. Soon we'll give that _hanyou_ the punishment he deserves." With that said Kouga quickly leapt up back into the trees. He looked odd, like a lifeless puppet but moving at an incredible speed. He was like some martial arts master who was so relax and calm that it appeared his body was weak and lifeless and yet it was only because the enormous strength within it was so well hidden.

But again Miroku did nothing to act on the oddity, and simply nodded, turned back and resumed his trip back to Kaede's hut at a brisk pace.

--

"Nnng….C'mon Mom, I don't wanna wake up and go to school…Can't you tell Gramps to call in with some crazy sickness so I can sleep a little longer?" It seemed that as much as Kagome worried about missing school and hated all of the humiliating sicknesses her grandfather used as excuses when she was awake, the future born schoolgirl was far more privy to both notions when it came to being woken up prematurely.

And the middle of the night was definately premature. Someone was shaking her vigorously to steal her from her slumber, and finally she gave in and opened her eyes. Her gaze was met by an anxious, fairly male face, topped with a mass of tied back black hair.

It took her a second, but Kagome finally registered the image as Miroku's, and with a shriek she slapped him.

"Miroku! What're you doing standing over me you pervert!"

Somehow Kagome's outburst hadn't woken up Shippo, Kirara or Kaede, and Miroku whispered a small prayer of thanks for that. He rubbed his face a little then began whispering.

"Please forgive me, Lady Kagome, but I meant nothing by it. I awakened you because I have something very important to show you. Please get ready so we can go at once."

Kagome, who had pulled her sleeping bag up to her chin in an somewhat pointless effort to hide her fully-clothed form from the lecherous monk raised her eyebrow disbelievingly.

"What do you need to show me?" she hissed.

"There's no time to explain. Please hurry up and come with me. Everything will become clear shortly, I promise."

'Everything will become clear alright,' a menacing voice uttered in his mind.

Kagome was distrustful of the monk and looked to the side to see if Sango was awake, the prospect of support in punishing Miroku's gawking at her in her sleep very appealing. But she found only Kirara laying in Sango's spot, the taijya nowhere to be seen. She looked around the hut and still couldn't find her, and soon enough she noticed that Inuyasha was gone, too.

Her look of annoyance turned to one of worry at the absence of her companions. She turned back to Miroku and began to re-evaluate her perception of events.

'Has something happened to the others? Is it serious?' A number of possible scenarios passed through her mind, none of them pleasant. Convinced that something terrible had happened to her friends and that they were in danger, Kagome thought, 'I guess Miroku really wasn't trying anything' and got up.

"Sorry for slapping you, Miroku. Let me get my bow and we can get going."

"No apology is necessary, Lady Kagome," he said. And then to himself he thought, 'No, nothing can keep me down knowing what's about to happen.'

After arming herself, Kagome rushed to the door and followed the monk. They both dashed into the forest.

--

In much quicker fashion than it had taken on his earlier excursion, Miroku found himself facing the massive hedge once again. This time he found himself with a pretty young miko in tow, one who was anxious and confused and concerned about her missing friends.

"So where's Sango and Inuyasha? Are they in trouble?"

Miroku placed a finger to his lip and whispered, "Please be quiet, Lady Kagome. They are in no danger."

Kagome relaxed at hearing that, but where her anxiety and fear had been lessened, her confusion had been compounded more than enough to compensate.

"Then what are we out here for, then, Miroku?" she whispered.

Miroku motioned for her to look through a gap in the hedge and merely said, "Look."

Kagome was still confused, but complied anyway and peaked through the hole. Miroku stood next to her and looked on as well.

Kagome saw Inuyasha and Sango in the clearing, safe and sound. Inuyasha was holding his sword out and Sango was standing behind him, apparently giving him instructions. Inuyasha began to go through some extravagant motions, slowly and a little awkwardly, but with a skill and concentration that reminded her of the way he had fought off the ogre.

'Inuyasha…is training! Sango is giving him sword lessons!' she gushed mentally. She seemed to have gotten a little more acclimated towards Inuyasha's new and surprising actions than Sango had and wasn't quite as surprised as the demonslayer had been when she had discovered this development. Instead, she was much more impressed and excited that Inuyasha was working on improving his skills.

But…why would Miroku need to show her this? Sure, it was unexpected, especially in his eyes seeing how he'd been gone for most of the day and hadn't seen the various happenings that had occurred. But it still didn't explain why Miroku would have seen it necessary to drag her out in the middle of the night to watch something like this.

She kept watching, though, because it was so cute to see Inuyasha working hard like that.

'And of course, Inuyasha is always cute even when he's not working…It's hard to tear my eyes away from him...' She giggled to herself a little and kept watching.

--

Inuyasha was finishing up his one last form. Sango could see that the brief lesson she'd given him had paid off. He was no master swordsman yet, but he'd improved dramatically in the brief time they'd been working. Sango was surprised that anyone who had handled their sword as poorly as Inuyasha had earlier could make so much progress so quickly.

With one final downward swipe Inuyasha finished his form. He was sweating, both from the intense training Sango had put him through and from the equally intense concentration it took to pull off his new moves. He turned to face Sango and thank her for her help.

"Thanks for the help, Sango. Is there any hope for me?"

Sango smiled brightly. "Don't worry about it. You improved a lot already. It won't take much to make you a master."

Inuyasha was almost giddy at the complement. "Thanks again, Sango," he said, and then scooped her up into a friendly hug.

Sango, still unused to such displays of affection and still a little at odds with her feelings for the hanyou, hesistantly returned the embrace with a faint redness on her face.

"It…was my pleasure, Inuyasha."

'Yeah…that sounds about right…'

--

Miroku was getting jumpy as Kagome watched the heartwarming scene. He pointed at them and said, "See! Do you see that!"

Kagome responded, "Yeah…Isn't it cute?"

Miroku took his eyes off of the hugging pair in the clearing before him and turned to look, shocked and astounded, at the girl beside him.

"W—what!"

Kagome turned to look to face him and furrowed her brow. "What?"

"Don't you see that! Doesn't that make you angry?" Miroku was raising his voice, so Kagome did the same.

"Angry? Why would that make me angry? Inuyasha and Sango are getting along…Being friends. I think its sweet and I don't see what your problem is!"

Miroku was losing it. "Being friends! Sweet? Are you blind! Has that scoundrel got you so under his spell that you can't see anything wrong with him two-timing you and trying to steal Sango away from me!"

Kagome's eyes widened. "WHAT!"

Her cry had been echoed by another. Both she and Miroku turned to find Inuyasha and Sango at their side, having been drawn to them by their yelling.

Miroku was staring at Sango, silent and dumbfounded and a little frightened. He had just referred to Sango as his…and she had heard it. She was staring at him now with a hurt and betrayed look in her eyes…And anger. He could tell that she was angry as well.

The scene was tense and silent.

Finally Sango spoke up.

"H—Houshi-sama…What did you just say?"

Miroku wasn't sure what to say. He'd already said what he said, and there was no hiding it now.

"Inuyasha's trying to take advantage of you! He's trying to steal you away from me!"

Oops, he'd slipped again.

"Steal me away…from you? Take advantage of me?" Sango's voice was dangerously calm as she struggled to make sense of what he'd said.

"Miroku, what are you talking about? I'm not trying to take advantage of anybody."

The monk turned to Inuyasha with a vitriolic disdain.

"You _bastard_! You still deny it! Kagome wasn't enough for you, you had to steal my Sango away from me! This whole act of being nice isn't fooling me! You're just a sick monster trying to steal my love away from me!"

The biggest slip. He'd just said that he loved Sango.

Realizing what he'd said he turned to face her again, but before his eyes met her lovely face a sickening CRACK! sounded and the only thing he saw was the ground as he was knocked down on his face. Pain rushed through his jaw, and he tried to gently rub it to see if it was broken but was unable to touch it without a blinding and searing pain cutting through his flesh.

What had just happened?

A moment passed until he was finally able to look up.

He found Sango staring down at him, her eyes filled with tears and an anguished and yet still angry look on her face. She had a clenched fist still raised and held up next to her face, her knuckles white. Kagome and Inuyasha were staring at her, both shocked by something.

It took another minute of watching this from down on the ground until it all clicked.

"Y—you...punched me…"

Miroku was no stranger to Sango striking him. All of his grabs to her behind had led to uncountable slap marks on the cheek and bumps on the head as a result of her punishments. She'd slapped him or bopped him on the head plenty of times.

But…she'd never actually _punched_ him before. Hiraikotsu's weight had let him realize that she was a great deal stronger than him, but he'd never known it just from all of the times he'd been slapped.

But that punch…that punch had really, _really_ hurt. He was still having trouble thinking straight, although it was certain that she had punched him. He began to regret everything...to regret having hurt her so badly that she lashed out so violently in response…But it was too late now.

She stared at him some more, and lowered her fist.

"How…how _could_ you…How could you say those things…"

Kagome saw how hurt her closest girlfriend was and felt an enormous sadness and sympathy. She cared for Sango like a sister, and even though Miroku was her friend too, she had to side with her one this one.

"Why, Miroku? Why'd you do all of this? Why were you so jealous? It's not like Sango and Inuyasha were doing anything wrong. They were just hugging...friends give friends hugs, y'know? There's nothing wrong with it, nothing at all. I'm pretty sure Inuyasha and Sango don't have any feelings for each other romantically, and even so, Inuyasha would nev--"

Kagome went on telling Miroku that nothing was going on, and soon her calm and reasonable lecture turned nastier as what Miroku had done and said had sunk in; once she finally figured out that he'd dragged her out in the middle of the night to try to get her angry at Inuyasha she began to wish she could put Inuyasha's rosary around HIS neck.

Meanwhile Sango was resigned to her thoughts. She thought about the betrayal she felt, the anger and the sadness the Miroku had inflicted on her.

'He...he called me 'his love' and he got so jealous that he thought someone was taking me away...Why? Does he really love me?' She wasn't sure how she felt at the prospect of that anymore. 'Do I want him to love me? I could've dealt with him being a pervert...But he went so far...He got so angry...What could have made him think that Inuyasha would do those things? Why was he so hellbent against me and Inuyasha...being together...?

'But even if he did love me...does that matter? What if I do really like Inuyasha? Miroku's never tried to actually express his feelings for me...what right does he have to act like I'm his now? What right does he have to take away another chance for me to be happy with someone...with Inuyasha...?'

Sango couldn't stand to look at the monk anymore. She turned away and looked at Kagome, who was still berating the injured monk...She was doing it all for her, too. Seeing her friend's loyalty made Sango feel even worse as she realized what she'd been doing.

'And Kagome-chan...I hadn't even thought of how my feelings for Inuyasha would affect you. How could I have ignored how you feel about him? And he feels that way about you, doesn't he? You were right Kagome-chan, Inuyasha just sees me as a friend. It looks like I made the same mistake Miroku made...I misinterpreted his actions, too.

'I don't deserve to have a friend like you Kagome-chan. I don't deserve to have you defending me.'

Kagome had stopped yelling at Miroku now, as she was basically saying the same things over and over, just louder and less politely. Once again she mentioned that there was nothing wrong with Inuyasha and Sango being friendly.

"Like I said, it's not like they have feelings for each other."

"That's not entirely true, Kagome-chan."

Kagome twirled around speedily, causing her long, raven hair to go flying in her face. Once she brushed it aside she asked, "What are you talking about Sango?" She started getting a little worried and looked up to Inuyasha. 'Could Inuyasha actually have feelings for Sango?'

Inuyasha was looking at Sango, perplexed and confused. He didn't have a clue what Sango was talking about either. Sango was a friend and he cared for her a lot, just like he cared for all of the others. Well, maybe not just like he cared for Kagome, but he wasn't exactly sure what his feelings for her meant... But at any rate, he knew he only viewed Sango as a friend. Did that mean...?

"I...I don't deserve to have to defending me, Kagome-chan. I—I think...maybe...that I DO have feelings for Inuyasha."

Kagome was surprised. She would almost think it was cute that Sango had a crush on Inuyasha if it wouldn't change the dynamics of their group so much. Or if she wasn't around all the time and wouldn't pose a threat for HER feelings for the hanyou.

But no, she wouldn't think like that. She felt bad for Sango. Kagome had been most open about her feelings for the silver haired boy to Sango during their trips to the hot springs. She realized that Sango had developed an infatuation for her hanyou, and was only now realizing the conflict that would arise. She knew Sango must feel guilty, and she was touched that Sango valued their friendship so much that she would worry about hurting her because of her own feelings.

"Sango...it's...it's okay." It wasn't really, she knew, but she wanted it to be.

"No it's not, Kagome. I know how you feel about Inuyasha, and I still felt that way about him, too. I betrayed you, Kagome." Sango was crying again.

Kagome couldn't stand to see her friend this way. She looked over at Inuyasha, and saw sorrow present on his face, too. What was he thinking right now? A lot of hidden feelings had been openly dumped in front of him. How was he taking it? She knew that he was a lot more sensitive now, and a lot more concerned with other peoples' feelings. She suspected that Inuyasha only viewed Sango as a friend, and that maybe he would be feeling guilty for making her sad by not being able to reciprocate her feelings for him.

'Maybe it would help to have him talk about this...Or maybe to find out when Sango started feeling this way...Or maybe...'

She heard a cough come from by her feet, followed by some sniffles. She looked down to see Miroku crying, too. Hearing Sango say she had feelings for Inuyasha had hit him hard. She couldn't tell if it was the revelation that Sango didn't love him that was hurting him or guilt that he caused everyone such pain by thinking that Inuyasha was impressing his desires on her, rather than Sango being the one who actually had feelings for the hanyou.

The scene was filled with sorrow and hurt, and Kagome thought the only way to solve it all would be for everyone to talk through it. Seeing that everyone else was crippled by their respective griefs, she knew it fell to her to start the little therapy session.

But before the first word could flow from her mouth, a familiar sensation was close upon them. An intense aura, that feeling she felt whenever the Shikon jewel was near, was emanating from somewhere close...VERY close. Kagome had never been so surprised by it before; she usually began sensing the jewel from father away and with less intensity. But this was like it just popped out of nowhere right on top of them.

But where was it coming from? She looked around frantically, drawing the attention of her friends.

"Kagome? What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked, a bit concerned by Kagome's odd behavior.

Before she could answer, a familiar rustling rattled and out of a tree dropped Kouga, still looking like a supercharged, limp puppet.

"Kouga? What are you doing here?" Kagome asked.

Miroku had mixed feelings about what he knew would happen next. Part of him wanted to tell Kouga to rip Inuyasha apart for ruining his chances with Sango...But then another part of him felt guilty and remorseful for what he'd done and wanted to call off the plan. He argued with himself inside, oblivious to what was going on around him until he looked up almost too late.

"Sango, Inuyasha, look out!"

The two were surprised and only narrowly managed to dodge a lightning fast swiped of the wolf's clawed hand. They got a hold of themselves again and fell into defensive stances, in desperate want of answers.

Miroku had seen it coming. Kouga was going to strike Inuyasha...But not just Inuyasha...He was aiming for Sango, too! But it wasn't just a normal punch he was trying to land; he'd noticed a dark aura surrounding the Wolf Prince's hand and those claws were out and intended to kill! The plan didn't have any provisions for lethal force, and so Miroku had tried to warn his lost love and his new rival.

"Kouga! What are you doing!" Kagome's voice tore into the quiet of the forest. Kouga didn't respond; not only did he remain silent, but he didn't even look back to twitch or anything. The sound of Kagome's voice had absolutely no effect on him; he just stood staring at Inuyasha with a sick grin and a blank look in his eyes.

Miroku was staring at the wolf. He remembered sensing something was wrong earlier and it seemed that his instincts had been right. He should have realized it before, but he'd been too wrapped up in getting revenge on Inuyasha that he'd ignored the signs of Kouga's bloodlust...And in doing so put Sango in danger.

But what had happened to Kouga? He hadn't acted like this earlier in the day when they were forming their scheme. What had made him act so strange?

A new fire began to burn in Kouga's eyes, but it did not belong to the wolf. Cold, sinister and purely evil glares poured out from behind those eyes, glares that Miroku and the rest knew all too well.

'Now it all makes sense...' Miroku thought as he recognized the source of Kouga's odd behavior. And he wasn't the only one...

Inuyasha bared his fangs as he growled, "NARAKU! I'd know that _stench_ anywhere!"

Those evil eyes that had taken over Kouga's face stared on, and then the wolf's mouth opened. A laugh came forth, frightening and malicious, but it was obvious to everyone that the voice did not belong to the body before them. As he laughed, the corrupted jewel shards in his chest began to glow a dark purple and became visible through the wolf's flesh and armor.

Then the voice began to speak.

"That's right, Inuyasha," Naraku's voice slithered to the ears of all present, making their skin crawl at the sound. "I am in control of this mangy wolf's body, and with the gifts I've given him I shall use him to put an end to YOU!"

Before Naraku's voice had finished Kouga made another charge towards Inuyasha, claws glowing and going for Inuyasha's throat. Distracted from Naraku's remote oration, Inuyasha was unaware of Kouga's approach until he was only inches away...Too close to dodge the strike. Inuyasha found himself staring down Kouga's claws of death, unable to stop them...

"Inuyashaaaa!"

--

A/N: I really hope that I'm right on Kagome's sleeping bag being red. It's amazing how hard it is to find out that one little detail without having a whole bunch of episodes readily available. So if I'm wrong, someone please tell me. In fact, if someone is really REALLY well-versed in Inuyasha-minute-details, I think I might need a little help in coming chapters and it'd be easier if I could ask someone than having to dig stuff up.

And there's another chapter. I wanted to have it out sooner, and it's actually been written for a couple weeks, but I couldn't muster up the energy to proofread it and I thought the end needed some work...But when I finally got around to looking over it again, I was happy enough with it so here we are. I dunno, I like a lot about this chapter, but I'm not sure it's exactly what I had in mind. It's definitely a lot longer, and for the most part I think it reads better, and at least for the first 2/3 of it it flows like I wanted it to. I hope everyone's enjoying it despite my lacking writing abilities, but I think/hope I'm getting better. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review. :)


	13. Chapter 13: Down on the Battlefield

**Mister Niceguy**

**Disclaimer:** hiro doesn't own Inuyasha. The title is also part of a lyric from a Blind Guardian song...

**Chapter 13: Down on the Battlefield**

"Inuyasha!"

It was too late for Inuyasha to defend himself and the only response that came to him was to clench his eyes closed and tighten his muscles in morbid anticipation of the impending attack and the sickening sounds that would result from Kouga's claws digging themselves into the hanyou's neck.

Any potential doubts of Naraku's influence and control over the Wolf Demon were erased from Inuyasha's mind as the eventuality of Kouga's strike drew closer. He coud feel the evil aura being emitted from those razor sharp claws as they drew ever nearer to their target.

The instant seemed like an eternity to Inuyasha as he awaited the sounds and sensations of pain and carnage that were about to besiege him. Glimpses of a full range of emotions shot through his mind and among them was the feeling of helplessness that he had not the time to do anything else to defend himself.

Finally Inuyasha's ears were met with the sound of flesh attacking flesh. But confusion immediately flooded his mind as he realized that something was wrong; he'd heard a sound but had felt no pain.

Another brief moment of mentally analyzing the situation revealed to Inuyasha that on top of hearing the sound but still having his neck remain intact, the sound he heard wasn't even the right one. A deafening "crack" didn't quite fit as an accompaniment to claws burrowing their way past hanyou vocal chords.

'Getting run through by demon claws usually hurts a lot more than this and doesn't go "crack," ' he thought. 'What's going on? Did I die or something?'

Realizing that he wasn't going to get any answers with his eyes still closed, he pushed back thoughts of being dead and slowly cracked them open. As he began to take in the scene before him his eyes quickly shot open. Before him was Koga, drawn back and nursing his attacking arm, and Sango, a little off to the side and drawing her sword to engage in battle.

"What just happened?"

Sango ignored Inuyasha's question just as she ignored the powerful emotions that had held her captive only a few short minutes before.

She asked, "Are you alright, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he replied still confused. "I still don't know how that happened, but yeah, I'm fine."

Sango didn't answer or even look back as she kept her attention on Kouga, which hid the small smirk brought about by Inuyasha's smart comment. She was sure that Naraku's unwilling puppet would take advantage of the situation the instant her guard was down and she wasn't about to give him that oppurtunity.

Fortunately for Inuyasha, Kagome, who had dashed to Inuyasha's side at the sight of him in danger, filled him in. Her voice expressed a feeling of relief at his safety as she spoke between gasps to catch her breath.

"Sango stopped Kouga from hitting you – she slammed his arm down with a kick." She thought about it for a moment as she finished catching her breath and finished saying, "It was pretty awesome, actually."

Taking his attention away from Kagome again he returned his gaze to Sango. She'd ripped her skirt with her kick, exposing a wobbly stance and a big, nasty bruise on the back of her leg, the results of her life-saving attack.

The kick that had, for the moment, neutralized the superpowered Kouga had been a flying axe kick that would have cleaved the arm of any human and many lesser demons in two. Even with Sango's considerable strength, it had taken an amazing amount of power for Sango to leap forward, snap her leg up (the action that produced the tear in her long skirt) and especially to slam it down hard enough to divert Kouga's immensely powerful strike. And the bruise on her leg and her visible strain in standing on that leg proved to Inuyasha that she had given everything she had to ensure it was enough...to protect him.

Inuyasha's expression darkened as he continued to watch the demonslayer in front of him.

'Again I've been saved by one of the people I'm supposed to be protecting. There she is, protecting ME again even after nearly breaking her leg to save me a minute ago. The whole reason I was out here training in the first place was to keep this king of thing from happening again! I can't be weak! I have to be strong so I can protect my friends!' Inuyasha's eyes strayed for a moment to the girl at his side. 'I have to be strong so I can protect Kago--'

Inuyasha shook his thoughts aside and hardened his gaze into one of determination. He drew Tetsusaiga and stepped forward next to Sango and put his unburdened hand on her shoulder. His eyes never left Kouga and despite a slight twitch of surprise from Inuyasha's touch neither did Sango's.

"Thanks, Sango, but let me take it from here," he said, silently and motionlessly indicating that she should take a break in light of her injuries.

Sango didn't move from her battle stance and said, "It's alright, Inuyasha, I'm still good to fight."

While certainly an important factor in his request, concern for the taijya was not the only reason for Inuyasha asking her to tag out. Inuyasha felt he had something to prove, and the only way to prove it was to go into battle alone.

'I need to fight him myself, to prove that I can still be strong. That even though I've changed somehow, that I've become nicer and more in tune with my emotions, I'm not weak! I need to prove to myself that I can still protect my friends and that I won't let them down...That I won't let _her_ down...'

"Sango, let me fight him alone...so I can try out all that new stuff you taught me." A small smile briefly graced Inuyasha's lips but vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Please."

That one word had betrayed the hanyou's feelings to Sango. She sensed a pleading tone, one that was asking her to let him prove something to himself. She didn't want to stand down but she couldn't bring herself to deny his request and prevent him from doing whatever he felt so deeply that he needed to do. And besides, his presence and his smiles and his friendly tone of voice were beginning to tear away the walls of resolve that were keeping her feelings at bay, and the first traces of guilt of betraying Kagome by falling for Inuyasha and sorrow at the situation as a whole returning to dull her battle senses.

'Okay, Inuyasha. Kagome-chan loves you so I don't have the right to try and stop you. Go find what you're looking for on the battlefield. But please...be careful..."

"Alright, he's all yours Inuyasha. But only because you said the magic word." She put on a small smile to mask her true feelings as she started limping her way back to fill the place Inuyasha had left at Kagome's side. When the young miko placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, Sango felt those twinges of guilt and sadness once again grow deeper. And they grew deeper still when she heard Inuyasha's next comment.

"Sango – please protect Kagome for me," he said, turning his head and flashing her a smile. Thinking that he'd hurt Sango's pride by kicking her out of the fight he tried to compensate by giving her the task of defending Kagome. But it turned out that even his new empathy for his friends had its flaws.

Normallly Sango would be all to happy to defend Kagome. She was after all her best friend, like a sister to her, and she'd give her life to protect just as fast as she would for Kohaku. But Sango wasn't stupid and knew what Inuyasha was trying to do. Even though she knew Inuyasha was only trying his best to be her friend, the gesture was rather patronizing. It wasn't like Kagome needed any protecting at the moment anyway.

She would have been a little irked by that under normal circumstances, but she was oblivious to that fact as she was emotionally kicked in the gut. Inuyasha's words had hit her hard.

'Of course, Inuyasha. Protect Kagome-chan. She's the one you really care about. Thanks for your concern about me but I know you'd sacrifice anything to keep her safe.' She glanced at Kagome's compassionate face as the young girl provided another comforting and encouraging smile, and again the taijya felt worse. 'And here I am getting jealous that you want me to protect Kagome. I'm so selfish...I'm so horrible...I care about Kagome-chan, too, and here I feel like I'm stabbing her in back by having these feelings for Inuyasha.' Sango closed her eyes to hold back tears that threatened to escape from her sorrowful eyes. Taking a few seconds to compose herself she reopened them and replied.

"Sure Inuyasha. I'll protect Kagome for you."

And just as she said that Kouga charged Inuyasha to once again press the attack.

--

Inuyasha's request for Sango to protect Kagome had a sombering effect on the miko as well.

"Please protect Kagome for me," he'd said. It was then that Kagome started feeling threatened by the fact that Sango had feelings for her hanyou. Seeing the smile he flashed her when he asked Sango to protect her made Kagome's heart sink, and hearing him ask Sango to protect her only made her feel worse.

'He asked Sango to protect me...because he thinks I'm too weak to protect myself. I'm just a burden to him and everyone else, someone who always gets in the way needed to be saved.' Forgetting the fact that she had exhibited enormous strength when she fearlessly vanquished a youkai to protect Inuyasha mere hours prior Kagome kept berating herself. 'I'm so useless...Maybe Inuyasha really would like Sango better than me. After all, she is incredibly strong and...' she glanced over at the nearly prone and dejected Miroku, who had dragged her out her in the first place. "...and they did seem to be having fun together when we saw them. I know that Inuyasha wasn't trying anything like Miroku thought, but maybe...maybe they are more compatible. Maybe Sango is more right for him than I am...'

And then Kouga and Inuyasha started to fight.

--

It seemed that Kouga's innate healing abilities, assisted by Naraku's malicious powers had repaired the damage Sango had done to his arm, so Naraku had Kouga put it to good use. Swipe after swipe of the deadly appendages narrowly missed Inuyasha, who was doing his best to evade. Finally Inuyasha fought back after analyzing the Wolf Youkai's movements enough to predict his attacks, and instead of dodging on the last strike he blocked by swinging the back of Tetsusaiga against the Kouga's forearm. Hitting the spot that Sango had damaged seemed put Kouga off guard a little more than it should have, so Inuyasha took the opportunity to ease his block into a combination and strike back.

He'd swung his sword from his right side to the left, and manipulating the momentum caused by displacing the hefty weapon Inuyasha swung his his left leg around to plant a spin kick into Kouga's unguarded jaw, his leg flying up as his upper body and Tetsusaiga swung down and around until the circle had been completed and Inuyasha was once again in his original stance.

Kouga was backpedaling, trying to regain control of himself after the attack, but Inuyasha pressed on. Instead of charging forward and tossing his enormous blade around like a skill-less brute he showed that he could indeed learn new tricks. With fluid, flowing motions he moved forward, slashing his sword in an unpredictable but fully controlled pattern, only nearly missing connecting with Kouga's body and keeping the wolf on the defensive, preventing him from making any sort of counterstrike.

Finally Kouga leapt high into the air and back flipped his way back a few yard to put some distance between them so he could have a chance to retake the offensive. But before he made any move to attack, Naraku studied Inuyasha through the wolf's eyes.

'What is this? Inuyasha isn't using any of his sloppy tactics...he actually seems to be using his halfling brain for once! How could he have improved his technique in so short a time...it's unfathomable!'

"Hanyou!" Naraku's slithering, terrifying voice poured unfittingly from Kouga's mouth. "I see that you are fighting like with some small amount of skill and poise this night...Very unlike your usual blithering and blundering attacks. Tell me: what has brought about this change?"

Inuyasha smiled, a bit of his cockiness that had been unseen for the past few days resurfacing.

'He's trying to buy time because he can't defeat me this time. Fine, Naraku, I'll play your game.'

"Just did a little training with Sango over here. It seems that it's more than enough to put your filthy hide in its place." Inuyasha's smirk grew as he taunted Naraku. He briefly felt familiar emotions and feelings course through him, but they passed too quickly to interfere with his concentration.

But Inuyasha's cockiness, as brief as it had been, would not go unpunished. While not reflected on Kouga's blank and expressionless face, back in his hideout Naraku was sneering and smirking in what was the closest he got to uncontrolled glee.

'So, the demonslayer is the one behind this new Inuyasha. She proves to be a thorn in my side of late...' A plan was forming in that twisted mind and once again speaking remotely through Kouga's lips Naraku revealed his next move to his troublesome opponent.

"That demonslayer wench seems to be at the heart of your upper hand in this battle, hanyou...Perhaps I should eliminate her first!"

With that said Kouga charged straight at Inuyasha, and just as Inuyasha moved to counter Kouga leaped clear over the hanyou and speedily dashed towards Sango.

Sango's eyes widened a little as fear began to overtake her. But she was a fighter, and while she couldn't keep fear away, she was able to keep it from controlling her. So she shoved Kagome away from her to keep her out of the line of fire, then steeled herself into a defensive stance, raised her wakazashi to the ready and prepared to take whatever Kouga was going to dish out.

But the calculating and conniving mind of Naraku that drove the Wolf Prince's body had been all too aware of the condition the taijya's kick had left her leg in. Infusing Koga with more evil strength, Naraku used his puppet to slap demonslayer's sword aside and launch a blindingly fast kick to her injured leg.

"Ahhhhhh!" Sango screamed, a shrill sound that pierced the air. Pain coursed through her leg, and it was so unbearable that it gave way and she collapse, falling defenseless on her back.

Kouga stood over her, again emotionless and blank, except for a glint of life in his eyes...Naraku's life, hateful and pleased. Kouga raised his arm, and again his claws emitted a deadly aura.

"Now you die!"

--

Inuyasha was running as fast as he could to assist Sango, and Kagome, despite her feelings of uselessness and a sprained ankle she'd received from Sango's forceful shove to keep her away from Kouga's attack, moved to help her friend as well. Neither one would make it in time, as Kouga's super speed had put him too far ahead of Inuyasha for the hanyou to catch up, and Kagome's injury prevented her from covering even the short distance to reach Sango before it was too late. Still they pressed on, screaming and looking on in terror, fearing that their best efforts would prove to be in vain and Sango would meet an untimely end.

But it seemed that everyone had forgotten Miroku's presence. He'd been watching the exchange, still on the ground paralyzed from the pain of Sango's angry punch. But seeing Sango as the target of the murderous, manipulated Kouga forced him to fight back the pain and take action.

'No! Leave my Sango out of this you bastard!' He'd made it to his feet, still unnoticed, and saw Kouga standing over the defenseless form of his beloved taijya. Filled with rage and concern he pulled away the beads holding back his Wind Tunnel and raised his palm towards the Wolf just as he was thrusting his raised claw down to steal the life from Sango.

"LEAVE SANGO ALONE!"

Koga was pulled toward the portable black hole to meet his end. Miroku didn't even concern himself with the prospect of killing the real Kouga in the process and fully intended to draw him into the cursed void in his right hand.

But before his puppet was lost to the curse he had designed, Naraku willed a swarm of Samiyoshou to fly forth from hidden nests implanted in Kouga's armor and clothes. Miroku hurried to seal his Wind Tunnel with panicked expedience, but was unable to prevent the intake of a couple of the poisonous insects before he returned the enchanted beads to their place on his wrist. He immediately grew weak and crumpled to the ground in agony as Kouga regained his footing.

"It looks like I should kill you first after all, Monk."

But Miroku's distraction had given Inuyasha a chance to catch up and he sounded a battlecry as he swiped Tetsusaiga across Kouga's path. Again, the wolf narrowly avoided the attack, forcing Naraku to rethink his strategy.

'I cannot win against Inuyasha when he is this unpredictable. It seems that I am forced to retreat for now.'

With that he commanded Kouga to escape, putting his tremendous speed to work, and in a tornado the Wolf Prince disappeared.

**A/N: **H-hiya, faithful readers! Betcha didn't expect to see another one of these, didja? ; Yeah, sorry 'bout that. But the months and months of hiatus are over, at least for now. I dunno how well I'll be able to keep up an update schedule, but I guess it's time to give it a try. Anyway, here are some heads up in regards to me and the fanfic scene overall...

- I've actually had this chapter (pretty much) written for quite some time. It actually goes on longer than this, but this is what I already had typed up, so I went ahead and put it up because it works as a decent enough chapter stop. So I pretty much have the next chapter written, just need to type it up. (I was handwriting these when I worked on it at my old job, so...)

- I'm gonna need to dig up my notes again to refresh my memory on the direction the story was going. And then I might need to change it if my thought processes have changed since last I thought about this. And they probably have, because glancing over some of this recently makes me cry at how bad I think it is...;

- I remember coming up with a few other ideas for fanfics, but I think I'm gonna wait until I'm done (or close to done) with this one before I start on those. Two were Inuyasha fics (although, one was kinda silly-fun and I dunno if I wanna do it right now) and then one was a Ranma fic. And who knows, maybe I'll end up wanting to do a Stargate fic...or EYESHIELD 21:D

- I've gotten backed up on reading fanfics lately, too, but the fics I read haven't been too active in terms of updates lately so I'm not too far behind, I guess...

- Um, I guess that's it. I hope to be more active in updating "Mister Niceguy," but I think I said that the last time I updated and see how that turned out...Anyway, I'll try again. And I want to thank all the people who are still reading this, as well as anyone who's just now stumbling across it. Thanks a bunch!

(P.S. - I probably need to go through an proofread this at some point...)


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